Date: 08/02/05
Source: Ministry of Science and Technology
Title: Mangena: Project Autek Progress Report Function
OPENING ADDRESS BY THE MINISTER OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, MR MOSIBUDI MANGENA, AT THE PROJECT AUTEK PROGRESS REPORT FUNCTION, AT CAPE TOWN INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION CENTRE ON 8 FEBRUARY 2005
Members of Project AuTEK, Members of the Mining Fraternity, Business Community, Academia and Science Councils, Distinguished Guests Ladies and Gentlemen
Project AuTEK, now in its fifth year, was initiated with the aim of discovering, developing and testing new industrial uses for gold. Gold has been the cornerstone of South Africa's mining industry for more than a hundred years. The cumulative production from the Witwatersrand fields is estimated at a staggering forty-eight thousand tons. This translates to about 31% of all the gold produced in the world throughout recorded history. It is estimated that only twenty one thousand tons of undeveloped resources, about one fifth of the world's un-mined gold, still remains. But these ores are increasingly difficult to exploit due to the great depths where they are situated and their fairly low grade quality.
Like Africa as a whole, South Africa is rich in terms of the range and abundance of natural resources - but often poor in exploiting their downstream value. Therefore, local research and development directed at adding value and exploiting our natural resources for economic benefit, has an enormous potential to contribute positively towards sustainable development.
One of the key issues facing the mining industry today is sustainability. Obviously, no industry that depends on exploiting a finite resource can be sustainable in the narrow sense. For more than a decade now, South Africa's annual gold output has been falling steadily from 624 tons in 1993 to 344 tons in 2004. In this context, sustainability means deriving maximum benefit from our natural resource base, and employing it to build new industries. This will allow our country to make the transition from a primarily resource-based economy to a high-tech industrial and knowledge-based economy. Through the Department of Minerals and Energy Affairs government has endeavoured to create an enabling environment for beneficiation. This was done through the amendment of the Mining Rights Act and the Diamond Act, which promotes access to both precious metals and precious stones for entrepreneurs that want to manufacture high value products in the country.
About 80% of industrial gold consumption worldwide is used for jewellery, and the demand for jewellery depends on many factors, including the economic climate, the gold price, and fashion. The next largest industrial use for gold is in electronics where its corrosion-resistance and high conductivity makes it the material of choice for reliability in printed circuitry and various electrical devices.
Other applications include: dental supplies, where gold is used in fillings and orthodontic devices; aerospace, where gold-containing brazing alloys are important to jet engine assembly; and in glass manufacturing, where gold and gold oxide are used in heat-insulating windows and to decorate glass and porcelain dinnerware.
Gold leaf is employed in commercial architecture for decorative purposes, and parts cast from gold alloys are used in chemical process equipment and synthetic fibre production machinery. A relatively small amount of gold is made into medallions and small bars for purchase as an investment.
There is therefore a clear strategic need to discover new industrial uses of gold in order to stimulate off-take, to stabilise price fluctuations, to add value to production, and to develop materials with improved properties. There are other compelling reasons for the need to develop new uses of gold. With the increased investment in nanotechnology research and innovation, most traditional materials in specialised applications will, over time, be replaced by cheaper, functionally rich and stronger nano-materials. It is important to ensure that our natural resources do not become redundant, especially because our economy is still very much dependant on them.
Project AuTEK is unique in several respects. It has given rise to a remarkable degree of synergy, involving collaboration between Mintek and South Africa's three largest gold producers, together with ten local and eight overseas universities. It has helped to catalyse worldwide interest in industrial gold R&D. The project is a genuine multidisciplinary effort embracing fundamental and applied research in areas as diverse as biomedicine, industrial catalysis, energy, environmental remediation, and the new field of nanotechnology.
AuTEK showcases two of the Department of Science and Technology's key Technology Missions embodied in our National R&D Strategy. These are, leveraging our resource-based industries and developing advanced manufacturing technologies. The department has put in place mechanisms for efficiently supporting such initiatives, which include the Advanced Manufacturing Technology Strategy (AMTS).
The thrust of the AMTS is to strengthen the competitiveness of the manufacturing sector through the implementation of targeted, high-impact projects. The core pillars of the strategy are industry development, manufacturing excellence, innovation, and research and development. These pillars are underpinned by appropriately skilled human resources. The implementation of this strategy is currently underway with various initiatives in the aerospace and automotive industry.
We have also supported the establishment of the advanced metals initiative (AMI). The main objectives of the AMI are to co-ordinate and oversee innovation activities in minerals beneficiation, in order to ensure that synergy exists between government, industry and higher education institutions. Project AuTEK is a perfect example of the synergy that is required to make our country more innovative.
What also excites me is its strong links to educational institutions, which means that it offers a real opportunity for the development of scientific and technical human capital. The National Research and Development Strategy clearly articulates the challenges facing us. Better instruments for addressing the challenges are in place or nearing implementation. The main aim is to create a critical mass of multidisciplinary teams with a strong focus on knowledge generation and capacity building. We are also developing other new instruments such as Knowledge Society Research Chairs, the DST's Innovation Post-doctoral Fellowship and the professional development programme. The aim is to use these instruments to radically increase the number of women and historically disadvantaged individuals entering the sciences, and maintain excellence within the science engineering and technology system.
Government applauds initiatives such as Project AuTEK, and continues to encourage partnerships between government, industry, academia and the general public. We have committed ourselves to meeting the target of 1% of GDP investment in R&D by 2008. This translates to the injection of an additional R2bn into the system. To meet this target, it is imperative that we work very closely with industry. Together with the National Treasury we are exploring mechanisms for industry to invest more in our national R&D. It is commendable that AngloGold Ashanti, Gold Fields and Harmony Gold have already taken the initiative with this project.
We urge you all to continue to participate actively in projects that can potentially drive South Africa to attain a higher economic status. At all times we should strive to maximise the benefits for all our people in order to turn South Africa into a successful nation, which can compete successfully at the cutting edge of science and technology.
May I conclude by congratulating the sponsors and participants of Project AuTEK on their remarkable achievements in such a relatively short time, and wish you more success in the future. We hope to see the first industrial applications arising from the project in the very near future.
I thank you.
Source: Ministry of Science and Technology
Title: Mangena: Project Autek Progress Report Function
OPENING ADDRESS BY THE MINISTER OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, MR MOSIBUDI MANGENA, AT THE PROJECT AUTEK PROGRESS REPORT FUNCTION, AT CAPE TOWN INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION CENTRE ON 8 FEBRUARY 2005
Members of Project AuTEK, Members of the Mining Fraternity, Business Community, Academia and Science Councils, Distinguished Guests Ladies and Gentlemen
Project AuTEK, now in its fifth year, was initiated with the aim of discovering, developing and testing new industrial uses for gold. Gold has been the cornerstone of South Africa's mining industry for more than a hundred years. The cumulative production from the Witwatersrand fields is estimated at a staggering forty-eight thousand tons. This translates to about 31% of all the gold produced in the world throughout recorded history. It is estimated that only twenty one thousand tons of undeveloped resources, about one fifth of the world's un-mined gold, still remains. But these ores are increasingly difficult to exploit due to the great depths where they are situated and their fairly low grade quality.
Like Africa as a whole, South Africa is rich in terms of the range and abundance of natural resources - but often poor in exploiting their downstream value. Therefore, local research and development directed at adding value and exploiting our natural resources for economic benefit, has an enormous potential to contribute positively towards sustainable development.
One of the key issues facing the mining industry today is sustainability. Obviously, no industry that depends on exploiting a finite resource can be sustainable in the narrow sense. For more than a decade now, South Africa's annual gold output has been falling steadily from 624 tons in 1993 to 344 tons in 2004. In this context, sustainability means deriving maximum benefit from our natural resource base, and employing it to build new industries. This will allow our country to make the transition from a primarily resource-based economy to a high-tech industrial and knowledge-based economy. Through the Department of Minerals and Energy Affairs government has endeavoured to create an enabling environment for beneficiation. This was done through the amendment of the Mining Rights Act and the Diamond Act, which promotes access to both precious metals and precious stones for entrepreneurs that want to manufacture high value products in the country.
About 80% of industrial gold consumption worldwide is used for jewellery, and the demand for jewellery depends on many factors, including the economic climate, the gold price, and fashion. The next largest industrial use for gold is in electronics where its corrosion-resistance and high conductivity makes it the material of choice for reliability in printed circuitry and various electrical devices.
Other applications include: dental supplies, where gold is used in fillings and orthodontic devices; aerospace, where gold-containing brazing alloys are important to jet engine assembly; and in glass manufacturing, where gold and gold oxide are used in heat-insulating windows and to decorate glass and porcelain dinnerware.
Gold leaf is employed in commercial architecture for decorative purposes, and parts cast from gold alloys are used in chemical process equipment and synthetic fibre production machinery. A relatively small amount of gold is made into medallions and small bars for purchase as an investment.
There is therefore a clear strategic need to discover new industrial uses of gold in order to stimulate off-take, to stabilise price fluctuations, to add value to production, and to develop materials with improved properties. There are other compelling reasons for the need to develop new uses of gold. With the increased investment in nanotechnology research and innovation, most traditional materials in specialised applications will, over time, be replaced by cheaper, functionally rich and stronger nano-materials. It is important to ensure that our natural resources do not become redundant, especially because our economy is still very much dependant on them.
Project AuTEK is unique in several respects. It has given rise to a remarkable degree of synergy, involving collaboration between Mintek and South Africa's three largest gold producers, together with ten local and eight overseas universities. It has helped to catalyse worldwide interest in industrial gold R&D. The project is a genuine multidisciplinary effort embracing fundamental and applied research in areas as diverse as biomedicine, industrial catalysis, energy, environmental remediation, and the new field of nanotechnology.
AuTEK showcases two of the Department of Science and Technology's key Technology Missions embodied in our National R&D Strategy. These are, leveraging our resource-based industries and developing advanced manufacturing technologies. The department has put in place mechanisms for efficiently supporting such initiatives, which include the Advanced Manufacturing Technology Strategy (AMTS).
The thrust of the AMTS is to strengthen the competitiveness of the manufacturing sector through the implementation of targeted, high-impact projects. The core pillars of the strategy are industry development, manufacturing excellence, innovation, and research and development. These pillars are underpinned by appropriately skilled human resources. The implementation of this strategy is currently underway with various initiatives in the aerospace and automotive industry.
We have also supported the establishment of the advanced metals initiative (AMI). The main objectives of the AMI are to co-ordinate and oversee innovation activities in minerals beneficiation, in order to ensure that synergy exists between government, industry and higher education institutions. Project AuTEK is a perfect example of the synergy that is required to make our country more innovative.
What also excites me is its strong links to educational institutions, which means that it offers a real opportunity for the development of scientific and technical human capital. The National Research and Development Strategy clearly articulates the challenges facing us. Better instruments for addressing the challenges are in place or nearing implementation. The main aim is to create a critical mass of multidisciplinary teams with a strong focus on knowledge generation and capacity building. We are also developing other new instruments such as Knowledge Society Research Chairs, the DST's Innovation Post-doctoral Fellowship and the professional development programme. The aim is to use these instruments to radically increase the number of women and historically disadvantaged individuals entering the sciences, and maintain excellence within the science engineering and technology system.
Government applauds initiatives such as Project AuTEK, and continues to encourage partnerships between government, industry, academia and the general public. We have committed ourselves to meeting the target of 1% of GDP investment in R&D by 2008. This translates to the injection of an additional R2bn into the system. To meet this target, it is imperative that we work very closely with industry. Together with the National Treasury we are exploring mechanisms for industry to invest more in our national R&D. It is commendable that AngloGold Ashanti, Gold Fields and Harmony Gold have already taken the initiative with this project.
We urge you all to continue to participate actively in projects that can potentially drive South Africa to attain a higher economic status. At all times we should strive to maximise the benefits for all our people in order to turn South Africa into a successful nation, which can compete successfully at the cutting edge of science and technology.
May I conclude by congratulating the sponsors and participants of Project AuTEK on their remarkable achievements in such a relatively short time, and wish you more success in the future. We hope to see the first industrial applications arising from the project in the very near future.
I thank you.
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