'Machines don't ask for 15% more every year'

FORMER Lonmin CEO Brad Mills believes that mechanising South Africa's platinum mines is the solution to the industry's cost and labour woes, even though the strategy cost him his job.

FORMER Lonmin CEO Brad Mills believes that mechanising South Africa's platinum mines is the solution to the industry's cost and labour woes, even though the strategy cost him his job.

Mills pushed for the mechanisation of Lonmin's Saffy and Hossy shafts from 2004, saying it would lead to improved safety and productivity, control costs and tackle the social issues arising from the employment of a large, low-skilled workforce. Jobs would be higher paid, safer and physically easier.

By 2008, Mills was ousted in a boardroom coup and Lonmin started the very expensive route to reverse mechanisation. It has spent more than R1.2-billion to revert to labour-intensive conventional drill-and-blast mining at its Saffy shaft. Mills told Reuters in an interview last year that this was "exactly the wrong decision".

"Machines don't annually come up and want 15% more salary to do their job," he said following violent strikes that led to 44 deaths at Lonmin's Marikana mine.

Lonmin's backtracking on mechanisation left other platinum miners more sceptical about making the switch in existing operations, because it requires major upfront investment and operational success is not a given.

However, despite the cost and technical challenge , it is unlikely that new mines will be designed and built with conventional, labour-intensive methods in mind.