MONTHLY MAGAZINE
FEBRUARY 2026
ISSUE NO. 02
Remote Monitoring
Getting Employee Buy-In for Remote Operations Centres (ROCs)
In mining operations, selling the benefits of new technologies to an indifferent workforce can be a precarious process. When addressing this situation, the difference between a smooth and a rocky transition from manual to remote monitoring and management lies in effective communication.
Balancing Possibilities with Reality
No doubt, remote monitoring through Remote Operation Centres (ROCs) has opened up many possibilities for predictive maintenance of mission-critical equipment in African mining and heavy industry. However, in the real world, it is not feasible to deploy this approach across all equipment….
Remote Monitoring Essential for Effective Boiler Management and Performance
Consistently collecting and interpreting data is critical to optimising efficiency and productivity when operating and maintaining boilers. Remote monitoring systems – particularly for large steam users – are integral to both effective management and safety according to Dennis Williams, Commercial Director of leading….
Condition Monitoring
Non-destructive Testing Keeps Mills Reliable
Jaco Venter, senior machinery inspector in WearCheck’s NDT team, advises that non-destructive testing should be conducted regularly as part of a reliability-centred condition monitoring programme, rather than in isolation after a breakdown.
Common Conveyor Problems and Best-Practice Maintenance Approaches
Quarries and mines lose thousands of productive hours each year due to conveyor system issues and some of the most common ones are belt misalignment, material carryback and rip events…
Equipment Refurbishment
Extending Sorting Equipment Lifecycle
Besides new factory-fresh machines, TOMRA offers comprehensive retrofitting solutions to modernise existing inventory through software and hardware upgrades, among other things improving reliability and availability. The payoff of this approach is significant: the equipment often achieves measurable performance gains without the huge expense of a full system replacement and the potential plant adaptation costs.
Power Control
Rethinking Power, Control, and Infrastructure Resilience in Africa
Across much of the African continent, power and control infrastructure does not fail because it is poorly designed. It fails because it is too often designed for ideal conditions that simply do not exist.
Engineers and operators are required to work within an environment shaped by infrastructure vandalism, material theft, harsh weather conditions, constrained capital budgets, unreliable grids, and persistent skills shortages. In this context, traditional assumptions about asset replacement, digitalisation, and imported solutions are increasingly being
Digital Twin
The Black Box: Hype or Hope?
You probably know the Nokia brand from the early mobile phones market, don’t you (Nokia 3310)? Well, the company has evolved, focusing on bigger things in industrial digitisation.
Lifecycle Management
CAPEX or OPEX? Time for TOTEX
CAPEX or OPEX to TOTEX: Every evolution requires a different mindset and a willingness to think differently. Are organisations prepared to take a leap of faith and change way their approach to project planning?
