Journal CommentThe Sustainability of Mining Engineering Education in South Africa
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- Created: Thursday, 28 November 2024 07:49
- Written by D.F. Malan
The mining engineering departments at the various South African tertiary institutes are responsible for producing the next generation of tech-savvy mining engineers. It is well known that it is an ongoing battle for these departments to attract top students. The problem is not unique to South Africa, however. Mining Digital reported earlier this year that mining is no longer seen as a popular career choice and enrolment in mining engineering courses decreased by 63% in Australia since 2014. The Mining Industry Human Resources Council of Canada found in a survey that 70% of the younger generation said they would not consider a career in mining and this was the highest proportion of all the industries included in the survey. This problem is even more complex in South Africa and addressing it will require a multi-pronged approach.
A major difficulty is that the basic education system is not training enough students in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) subjects. Numbers presented to parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Basic Education revealed that enrolment for STEM subjects decreased substantially from 2016 to 2020. During this period, mathematics decreased by 40 385, physical sciences decreased by 18 461 and life sciences decreased by 21 940. It is alarming that the various medical, computer science, engineering and pure science faculties at the tertiary institutes now compete to attract the best from this shrinking pool of STEM matriculants. Mining departments typically fall last in line as the best talent is grabbed by the offerings perceived to be more glamorous by the students. Although exceedingly difficult to implement, STEM subjects should assume a central role in the nation’s public and private education system. Diane Sengati from the African Institute of Mathematical Science (AIMS) noted “Most students don’t pursue STEM subjects because they think it is very difficult, but the perceived difficulties root from how they have been taught those subjects. If you teach the subject in a friendlier way, it becomes easier and attracts more students”. Training the teachers is therefore an important initiative for AIMS and it should be aggressively pursued by the government. James Lees of the Mail & Guardian wrote that the number of schools not offering science subjects increased from 512 in 2013 to 781 in 2021. This trend must be reversed to increase the pool of young talent.
The mining industry can also assist in making mining studies a more attractive option for students. This includes advocating for mining education and the marketing of its importance in schools and universities. Mining can improve its image and make itself a more desirable choice for students by focusing on the adoption of advanced mining equipment and technologies. Of concern is that the number of bursaries awarded by some mining groups has decreased in recent years. Approximately only 30% of the final year class at our university is currently studying with a bursary and this trend must be reversed.
The third aspect affecting the sustainability of mining departments is the sourcing of skilled staff. The requirements to fill lecturing positions at the universities are perhaps unnecessarily strict, and typically a PhD degree is a minimum requirement for a senior lecturer position. Sourcing mining graduates with a PhD, some teaching experience and a good publications record is exceedingly difficult. Finding a suitable professor candidate is the proverbial hen’s teeth. The universities need to be more innovative in this regard and career paths need to be more flexible. The development of younger staff into these roles is becoming more important. Industry can play a supportive role and aspects, such as secondments to industry for practical experience, can be of great assistance. Appointment of senior industry staff in part-time ‘extraordinary’ lecturer and professor positions has also been successfully used in the past and this should be supported by both industry and the tertiary institutes.
D.F. Malan
Rare earths elements (REE), often dubbed the ‘vitamins driving the 21st century industrial epoch and clean energy transitions’, have been a subject of debate and are at the centre of the geopolitical and supply-side tensions between China and the West. With everyone scrambling for de-risk of their supply chains, the attention is now increasingly being focused on seeking alternative sources of these critical raw materials. This is where Southern Africa, as a geopolitically neutral region rich in these irreplaceable raw materials, comes in to ensure the sustainable supply of the critical raw materials needed to drive the clean energy transition.
The SAIMM’s 2024 Annual General Meeting held in August 2024 celebrated the Institute’s 130th birthday and 70 years since the Journal was first published. This celebration comes at a time when the mining industry is facing challenges with regard to future funding and limited opportunities for new developments largely due to environmental lobbying and soaring financial costs.
I have always been fascinated by how things work, and my mother often commented that I got more pleasure from pulling my toys apart and rebuilding them than from playing with them. Learning, or should I say ‘trying to understand how things work, why they work, and then how to do it differently’ is an ongoing passion for me. The Why, How and What If may have driven my family crazy at times but they are questions that have shaped my life.
This year the SAIMM will celebrate its 130th ‘birthday’. In this commentary I would like to focus on the value and service that the Institute has provided to the mining and metallurgical industries. 
If you’re bored, it’s probably your own fault. When I was a first-year student in 2002, I was exceptionally shy and introverted, like many of my engineering student friends. I grew up with technology and was one of the first among my peers to sacrifice a bit of hard-earned internet-café job money (intended for a few on-campus treats at Steers) to buy a USB flash drive. I would crawl under computer laboratory desks to find the USB port to plug it in, much to the amusement of my peers who were still using floppy disks. Six months later, there were extension cables on the tables to plug in your ‘stick’. Google and Wikipedia were novelties, and search engines like Yahoo and Alta Vista were considered great for starting an internet search. The library computers and staff were invaluable for finding relevant information on all subjects.
There has been a lot of talk lately about the just energy transition and critical minerals. Southern Africa is richly endowed with critical minerals and as such should play an important role in the journey towards renewable energy. And then there is coal. Inevitably, decarbonization will entail the phasing out of coal as an energy source. However, a just energy transition requires more than simply shutting down coal mines and power plants. Coal mining communities often rely heavily on the industry for their jobs and livelihoods. As coal use declines, these communities will require robust social safety nets and reskilling programmes to ensure a smooth transition into new sectors of the growing clean energy economy. Areas for consideration might include alternative applications for, and products from, coal such as carbon fibre, which has applications in motor vehicles, wind turbines and energy equipment, sports items, electronic, military, defence, and medical products. Another example is coal use in building materials, some made with carbon fibres and others with carbon char. include coal plastics, coal foam, and graphene-based building materials. Graphene is an important single-layered carbon product which is light and extremely strong. It is currently emerging as a vital product with many applications including manufacturing, vehicles, aircraft, space travel, and electronics. Other alternative products from coal are activated carbon and carbon black. Coal and coal discard may turn out to be viable sources of rare earth elements, which are also of critical importance to the decarbonization journey. As this journey progresses and as is seen elsewhere in the world, the future of coal may lie in its perceived role as one of the most important elemental, mineral, and ore commodities that a country can possess. For any of the above to materialize will require extensive research and development. And even then, only a few of these visions may come to fruition. However, to do nothing is not an option. I wish you a pleasant reading experience. 
I thought to write this note as a researcher, author, and collaborator, and who, over a few decades has seen and participated in the development of several new equations, procedures, and processes on a number of topics: in my case, obviously in the field of rock engineering. These are invariably published in established journals or presented at conferences of some or other form, some more formal than others.
This special edition of the Journal showcases recent work in metallurgical applications of computational modelling. But what exactly is computational modelling? Historically this would have included any science or engineering problem that required a computer to solve numerical approximations of the governing equations. Computers were typically large, expensive pieces of equipment, and the problems solved were limited by the available power of the machine – early applications included chemical thermodynamics, numerical heat and mass transfer, and simple problems in fluid flow. 
The mining industry, which has been the engine of growth of the South African economy for about 150 years, has stalled. Commodity prices have plunged and production costs risen as the infrastructure within which the mines operate has deteriorated. Production is restricted by erratic power supplies and exports are throttled by Transnet’s lack of capacity and problems at the ports. Mining companies have to spend vast sums both to protect their assets and for personal security. There are few new projects and exploration has dwindled to nearly zero. Beneficiation has moved backwards as more chrome and manganese ore is being exported and less is smelted domestically to produce alloys. 