The gold and platinum industry has a bit of a problem in RSA. The rich ore is shallow, deep and uneven. Now, the other problem is what kind of machinery do you take underground which will be compatible with those conditions and still be compliant for the health and safety of persons. Pneumatic equipment are bigger in size, Hydraulic equipment are sluggish but yet stronger. Now there are other lot more other conditions which must be taken into consideration as well which an ordinary machine cannot do such as the detection of rockfall, identification of the rich ore, etc. Never mind the capital expenditure required just to have a mechanised mining like the coal boys have. The list goes on and it will take a while for a full fledge conversion
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