The local gold mining industry has been in the forefront of some innovative technological developments, setting international benchmarks for deep-level gold mining in the process. However Gavin Halse, managing director of software solutions company, ApplyIT, says he has cause to wonder it the industry can still be considered to be in the forefront of technological innovation. "In the past, the mining sector was characterised by tremendous innovations in the quest to extract minerals from the earth and beneficiate them. An example is the ability to extract ore from tremendous depths such as the single lift shaft system at the South Deep gold mine, which can lift 30 t from 3 km below in a single haul. However, are these technological achievements still taking place, and is innovation taking place in all aspects of mining? Where is the next big innovation to yield competitive advantage in mining going to come from? Could it be from the world of information technology (IT)?"
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