The Role of Digital Technologies that Could Be Applied for Prescreening in the Mining Industry During the COVID-19 Pande
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ORIGINAL ARTICLE
The Role of Digital Technologies that Could Be Applied for Prescreening in the Mining Industry During the COVID‑19 Pandemic Iqra Atif1 · Frederick Thomas Cawood1 · Muhammad Ahsan Mahboob2 Received: 21 July 2020 / Accepted: 22 August 2020 © Indian National Academy of Engineering 2020
Abstract The novel COVID-19 (coronavirus disease of 2019) pandemic has caused global havoc and impacted almost every aspect of human life and the global economy. The mining industry is not immune to such impacts. The pandemic has accelerated the need for digital transformation in the mining industry and in the era of the fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), there is further application of digital technologies in the early detection and prescreening of emerging infectious and viral diseases to keep mining areas and communities safer and less vulnerable. This paper aims to explore the application of smart digital technologies that could be applied for detection, prescreening and prevention of COVID-19 in the mining industry. The study will contribute, firstly, to demonstrate the utility and applications of digital technologies in the mining industry and, secondly, the development of a body of knowledge that can be consulted to prevent the spread of the disease in the mining industry. Keywords COVID-19 · Coronavirus · Pandemic · SARS-CoV-2 · Digital technology · Mining industry · Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR)
Introduction The novel COVID-19 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2—coronavirus disease of 2019) pandemic has caused global havoc and impacted almost every aspect of human life and the economy. The effect of this viral disease on human health is evident from its easy and rapid spread from person to person resulting in infection and sometimes death (Worldometers 2020) and on the global economy. To date, more than 500,000 people have died from COVID-19, while the McKinsey Institute describes the pace of decline in economic activity to be the steepest since World War II (Craven et al. 2020). This effect is more prominent in resource-rich countries which are already struggling with their economies and where people have to physically work * Iqra Atif [email protected]; [email protected] 1
Wits Mining Institute (WMI), University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
Sibanye‑Stillwater Digital Mining Laboratory (DigiMine), Wits Mining Institute (WMI), University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
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for their livelihoods. The current pandemic also has serious consequences on the short-, medium- and long-term future of the global mining industry, particularly where there is limited application of digital and automation technologies. An executive briefing by Craven et al. (2020) highlighting the implications of COVID-19 for business showed that the mining, oil and gas industry has the highest financial risk compared to all other industries in the USA (Fig. 1). The situation will not be different in South Africa because the extractive industries are considered essen
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