The future of mining in Ghana: Are stakeholders prepared for the adoption of autonomous mining systems?

Abstract

Autonomous mining systems (AMS) are being developed and deployed for improving mine productivity, safety and efficiency in countries like Australia and USA. Nonetheless, AMS implementation is known to cause social challenges such as job losses. These systems are expected to eventually be introduced into the Ghanaian mining industry. Thus, it is necessary to understand stakeholder perceptions of AMS to inform policy direction towards their implementation in Ghana. Such knowledge does not exist in the literature. This paper assesses the preparedness of mine stakeholders for the adoption of AMS to surface mining industry in Ghana. Data was gathered using closed, and open-ended questionnaires and analyzed in MS Excel using pivot charts to identify respondents’ knowledge levels, and preparedness for adoption of AMS. Detailed qualitative and quantitative content analyses of the only mining engineering program in Ghana were conducted to assess the adequacy of the program in meeting the future skill demands of the mining industry. The results reveal that even though respondents generally had knowledge of AMS, they expressed unwillingness to accept AMS into Ghanaian mines due to fear of increased unemployment. University courses were perceived by the respondents to focus on mundane and outdated mining technologies. These perceptions were corroborated by detailed content analysis of mining curricula of a Ghanaian university, as 48% of undergraduate and 75% of postgraduate mining courses were focused on these mundane technologies. Thus, avenues for acquiring skill set demands of future mining operations do not exist. We propose setting up a mining education fund (MEF) for equipping mining programs with the needed facilities to train stakeholders (employees and future employees) in AMS to provide adequate local labor that can work with AMS.