For Rosond, the 2017 edition of the Mining Indaba highlighted the importance of commercial innovation, says Ricardo Cravo Ribeiro, Operations Director at Rosond. With around 70-80% of the cost of most jobs going on labour, Rosond looks to remain competitive through efficiencies that include improved machinery, technological and other innovations.

The company manufactures much of their own machinery, tailored to local conditions, which requires continual technological development; but increasingly it is commercial innovation that is critical in order to survive and thrive in a tough industry.

Ribeiro gives a number of examples. For one, given the government’s emphasis on developing juniors, creative solutions are needed to overcome the problems that prevent larger, more established contractors from working with new entrants to the industry.

“Juniors battle sometimes with funding, so we are looking at how to make this work,” says Ribeiro. “Our problem is that, working with blue chip mining houses comes with a lot of requirements, which is why our overheads are so high… there are a lot of safety issues, and you need various departments to be able to tick all the boxes. Juniors want to have similar requirements met, but then can’t afford to contract to that. However, paying less for contractors may be a false economy, as the client can then sit with delays in the project, accidents and so on. I think we need to engage a lot more with junior mining houses, to come up with innovative ways of funding exploratory projects.”

Another pressing issue, says Ribeiro, is the need to get local enterprise development underway, which he feels is increasingly being raised by mining houses as a key concern.  “We understand this, and agree that the local community should benefit from industry in the area. It’s an important issue and one that needs to be addressed thoughtfully”.  This requires innovation to create a win-win approach, as enterprise development can be perceived as raising a competitor, meaning a potential loss of work.

“But that doesn’t have to be the case,” argues Ribeiro. “It’s a question of coming up with new ways of approaching the problem, which is what Rosond is looking to do. We will be presenting some of these ideas to blue chip mining houses towards the middle of the year. ”

“It’s a balancing act – keeping our achievements in safety as high as they are, remaining competitive and responding to industry pressures,” says Ribeiro. “Commercial innovation is key.”