Improving Social Image of Mining Industry With Implementation of New Technology

IMPROVING SOCIAL IMAGE OF MINING INDUSTRY WITH IMPLEMENTATION OF
NEW TECHNOLOGY
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................... 2
NEGATIVE SOCIAL IMAGE IN MINING INDUSTRY.........................................................2
Environmental Pollution.......................................................................................... 3
Low Impact on Economic Development...................................................................4
Alteration of Land Use............................................................................................. 5
Accidents during Mining.......................................................................................... 5
IMPLEMENTATION OF NEW TECHNOLOGY..................................................................6
Intelligent Mining Technology.................................................................................7
Longwall Automation Technology........................................................................7
Intelligent Mining Service Center.........................................................................8
Inspection Robots.................................................................................................... 9
Blasthole Drill Automation....................................................................................... 9
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles..................................................................................... 10
IMPACT OF TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT ON SOCIAL IMAGE..............................10
Improved Mining Productivity................................................................................11
Improved Failure Anticipation............................................................................... 11
Promoted Safety in Mining Industry......................................................................12
Environmental Sustainability................................................................................. 13
Improved Economic Development.........................................................................14
CONCLUSION............................................................................................................ 14
REFERENCES............................................................................................................ 16

INTRODUCTION
This paper seeks to assess the improvement of the social image of the mining industry through
the implementation of new technologies. The rapid advances in technological innovations
including electrification, digitization, and automation are having a fundamental impact on the
social image of the mining industry. Some of the new technological developments that have been
witnessed recently include smart sensors, drones, and boring systems. In the past 10 years, the
mining industry has witnessed a rapid decline in productivity, a rise in capital development costs,
and increased operating expenses. These challenges have negatively affected the social image of
the mining industry since the majority view the industry as a failing sector that cannot sustain
itself (Zhang and Moffat, 2015). However, the implementation of new technologies has resulted
in improved recovery rates, faster speed of extraction and development of mines, and accurate
and rapid characterization of ore bodies.
The implementation of new technology into mining operations is seen as a strategic obligation by
many mining industries, to improve the operational effectiveness and safety. This is because the
mining industry is still recovering from one of the most difficult moments in decades
characterized by public scrutiny, shareholder activism, legal limits on natural resource use,
geopolitical risk, and other issues specific to the industry (Pratama and Saipuddin, 2019).
NEGATIVE SOCIAL IMAGE IN MINING INDUSTRY
Previously before the implementation of new technologies in the mining industry, the social
perceptions towards the industry were worrying since many view the industry as a failing sector
without the ability to sustain itself. Some of the negative social image portrayed by mining
industries are discussed below:

Environmental Pollution
Climate change is one of the environmental challenges facing the mining industry especially
those industries involved in coal mining. The environmental pollution associated with the mining
process has resulted in a negative social image of the mining sector due to the rise in greenhouse
gas mission which results from the use of energy sources such as coal to power the machines.
Coal is a non-renewable source of energy and hence its persistent use is unsustainable in the
long-term. The mining industry conflicts with the mining communities, workforce, and general
population in general (Louis, et al., 2015). The mining communities are not willing and ready
to tolerate the large holes, dust, coal trains, and noise that are left after the mining process. The
mining industry has a major challenge of impacting positively to the local communities.
The long working durations that the mining industries expect the workers to work are
unsustainable in the long-term. This has led to young people leaving the mining industries
because of fatigue levels. Another challenge faced by mining industries is the effective usage and
management of land particularly after the completion of the mining process. Though the mining
industries gave put much efforts into environmental sustainability in its processes of mining, the
use of the final products by the final consumers has had a negative effect on the environment.
For the mining industry to attain environmental sustainability, it should embrace the
environmental feature, economic feature, and the social dimension feature. Mining industries
have not been able to embrace environmental features effectively which is a significant feature
for maintenance of environmental sustainability (Vardhan, 2017). Therefore, the mining
industries have not attained environmental sustainability and that is one of the reasons why the
sector has developed a negative image in society.