Cape Town - Fears that the increasing use of Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) technologies could result in job losses are among the concerns to be tackled at the 26th Annual Investing in Africa Mining Indaba that opens in Cape Town today.
The indaba is the world’s largest gathering of mining’s most influential stakeholders and decision-makers in African mining.
The theme this year is “Optimising growth and investment in a digitised mining economy”, and the view from experts in the industry is that mining employees who lack technological skills could find themselves in the unemployment queue.
On expectations and challenges in mining and 4IR, Anglo American group director corporate relations, Anik Michaud, said: “Digitisation of the mining sector and the economy should be seen as an opportunity to reskill and redirect workers into higher value technology-driven jobs such as data mining and data analytics.”
Lawyer Lizle Louw, a partner at Webber Wentzel with extensive experience in advising the private and public sectors on mining governance and regulation, said: “As South Africa’s mining industry moves into the 4IR, it is likely to operate more efficiently with fewer people who are multiskilled, resulting in the retrenchment of employees who are not appropriately skilled for such an environment.”
Minister of Minerals and Energy Gwede Simon Mantashe addressing the guests African Mining Indaba at the Cape Town International Convention Centre. Video: Phando Jikelo/African News Agency (ANA)
In an opinion piece she penned with three other partners at the firm, Louw said: “We would like to see Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe to be forward looking, and not rely on the existing reactionary retrenchment legislation to address this inevitable development.
“Forward-looking measures could include tax relief or other incentives that would help companies reskill or multiskill redundant workers well in advance of retrenchment to ensure they can be retained in employment in the mining industry,” she said.
“At present, reskilling is normally the outcome of retrenchment consultations and not mandatory. The reskilling usually includes basic trades but should move towards skills necessary in a 4IR environment,” said Louw.
“There could also be more co-operation between mining companies and government to implement relevant reskilling, for example co-funding of 4IR appropriate training programmes.”
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