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Minerals Council South Africa is looking at the possibility of promoting permanent aerial mesh support throughout the mining industry as part of its fall of ground action plan.

The Minerals Council has a robust fall of ground action plan that targets several dimensions on the biggest contributor to mining incidents.

"Many mines have adopted permanent aerial mesh support and we're looking at further adoption," Minerals Council head: safety and sustainable development Dushendra Naidoo said in response to Mining Weekly during a media briefing at Investing in African Mining.

As part of the fall of ground action plan, the Minerals Council is also looking at the testing of exoskeletons, wearable devices designed to bolster human performance in physically demanding tasks by supporting various body parts, including the hands, lower and upper back, legs, shoulders and arms. This reduces the amount of energy required when lifting and carrying heavy objects and holding heavy tools.

While exoskeletons are already being used to help workers in a range of industrial applications globally, ranging from painting buildings to warehousing and car manufacturing, not much has been said about how they might be used in mining - one of the most dangerous and labour-intensive industries.

"That's quite a key intervention. We're testing quite a range of these systems to assist in the barring process. So essentially that removes a person from the unsafe rock that could potentially fall," said Naidoo.

Barring is the removal of loose rocks from the walls and ceiling of an underground mine using a long steel pole, is notoriously risky work, with many fall-of-ground deaths being attributed to this process over the years.

Barring causes significant strain on the back, shoulders and arms of even the strongest and most physically fit mineworkers. This makes them unable to do the job effectively for more than a few minutes at a time, after which they become too tired to continue. This can negatively affect the barring and, consequently, put other workers in jeopardy.

Having an exoskeleton can possibly alleviate the need for barring rights close to high-risk areas.

"That's one of the key things that we are going to be testing this year," Naidoo said.

Eight exoskeleton systems from around the world are under scrutiny to see what best option for South Africa's mining industry in terms of implementation, practicality, and cost.

The Isidingo rockdrill is viewed as drilling cleanly, neatly, and simply. Its lightness is key for adaptation for female employees to use underground.

"If you can drill cleanly, neatly, and simply, you can make the blast a far more efficient process by having a cleaner blast.

"Another key thing as part of the fall of ground action plan is we have a rock engineering technical committee comprising skilled people who have been in the industry for many years with very heavy rock engineering expertise.

"They are involved in this programme and their input is key to guide the process and to look at the best way forward.

"We're also looking at seismic monitoring, systems patented in the past that involve acoustic monitoring of the rock and telling way ahead of time wat is happening ahead at the face," he added.

Cleaner cutting systems that can mitigate the need for blasting are also being studied. These could facilitate the clean excavation of rock and are also being looked at for low-profile mining.

In 2021, there were 22 fall of ground fatalities, in 2022, these fell to six and then doubled to back up to 12 last year.

"But if you have a look at the trend, which you must never under-estimate, the hard work that the members are putting in. Its's not a quick pause and tomorrow things will be safe.

"It doesn't work like that. We've got a huge number of programmes. How much effort does it take to come to a trend, to really see that we're on the road to zero harm.

"It's n...