Schauenburg Systems installs its most advanced PDS technology at Northam’s Booysendal platinum mine

By Paul Moore (IM International Mining) on 18th February 2021

Schauenburg Systems has announced that it has successfully installed its most advanced Proximity Detection System at one of South Africa’s most prominent PGM producers, Booysendal Mine, belonging to Northam Platinum and located on the eastern limb of the Bushveld Complex. The shallow, mechanised, room and pillar Booysendal UG2 North mine is located near the town of Mashishing (formerly Lydenburg).

It adds: “This success was enabled by a highly supportive customer, thorough program planning and disciplined execution by our team in the last two weeks of December.” Schauenburg says it has over the last years heavily invested into the next generation of safety and productivity improvement solutions making it a reliable partner in digitalisation. In the course of 2021, it will launch a newly designed IoT platform “and a series of products that make the connected worker a reality in mining.”

Ettiene Pretorius, Head of Strategic Business Unit for Schauenburg Smart Platform Solutions told IM recently: “With more than 4,000 systems currently deployed, Schauenburg’s Collision Management System (CMS) solutions are designed, manufactured and supported locally. This enables Schauenburg to provide exceptional service, accompanied with rapid support to clients, opposed to foreign-manufactured systems. Schauenburg Systems CMS products adhere to the stringent guidelines as stipulated by the Minerals Council of South Africa to achieve Level 9 compliance. Our product portfolio ranges from multi-technology tag-based solutions to Artificial Intelligent (AI) camera systems which assist with mitigating the risks associated with Trackless Mining Machines (TMMs), pedestrians and hazardous objects within an operational environment.”

Schauenburg Systems has already Invested upwards of ZAR30million in the development of its Level 9 PDS solution which involves an engineering department consisting of approximately 15 engineers. It has been part of the ISO 21815 discussions since its inception through EMESRT and still provides reviews and insight with the rest of the industry. “We now have our PDS systems on the ISO 21815 protocol and have done extensive interface testing with some of the vehicle OEMs and we are involved with projects to showcase on-site single machine and multiple machine tests which include stakeholders such as vehicle OEMs, third-party interface suppliers, major mining clients, University of Pretoria and Schauenburg.”