Big data technology could preserve jobs in the mining sector
Big data technology preserve jobs in the mining sector.(image source: Pixabay)
Thousands of new jobs are likely to be created with the discovery of new mineral deposits in South Africa. With mining companies on the verge of shutting down some of their most productive mines because they are too old, too deep and too expensive to run, big data may come to the rescue by identifying new mineral deposits and creating thousands of new jobs in the process.
Professor Susan Webb of the University of the Witwatersrand School of Geosciences said using the latest techniques in analysing vast amounts of data that had been collected over decades it was thought likely that previously unknown deposits of both precious and base minerals would be discovered which could place South Africa squarely back in the lead as a mining powerhouse. It could also reveal gas and oil deposits, which would be a game changer for the South African economy.
“We have tons of data which still needs to be analysed and it is likely that these datasets, as well as new data coming in from a variety of sources including satellites and ground stations, will provide us with clues as to where these deposits are located.”
The newfound sense of optimism is not limited to scientists and academics.
Anglo American group director, technical and sustainability, Tony O’Neill recently stated that big data was a “low-hanging fruit just within our grasp.”
“For the first time in my 36-year career in mining, I feel we’re on the cusp of an explosion of game-changing technology. The opportunities presented by big data and other key technologies were enormous,” he said.
A Centurion firm of business consultants have played a major role in introducing new technologies for the processing and analysis of so-called big data in South Africa.
Dewald Lindeque, Business Development Director at Moyo Business Advisory, said his company had devised big data business solutions for some of the largest companies in South Africa that had in many respects revolutionised the way they do business.
“The amazing thing with big data is that you can accurately predict events that have not yet happened and devise plans on how to capitalise on those events. It can be applied to everything ranging from the discovery of new mineral resources to the streamlining of business processes in the corporate sector.
“It has also been used with great success in the scientific field in the development of new drugs such as a procedure to modify T cells in the human genome to fight leukaemia as well as in the decoding of the human genome to help fight genetic diseases.”
Lindeque said the importance of computing on this massive scale was vitally important for the corporate world where big data had been earmarked as the next great leap forward to help the business community to maximise profits and reduce costs by effectively using information companies already had resident on their databases.
Using big data, scientists have already discovered new mineral deposits and the technology could be widely applied to exploration, they wrote in the journal American Mineralogist.
“Big data points to new minerals, new deposits,” they wrote in the findings.
A scientific paper published in the American Mineralogist recently proved beyond doubt that big data could find new mineral deposits.
“The quest for new mineral deposits is incessant, but until recently mineral discovery has been more a matter of luck than scientific prediction,” said co-author Dr Shaunna Morrison of the Deep Carbon Observatory and the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington.
Edited by Fundisiwe Maseko
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