New safety system for world’s largest platinum mine

Australian export case study

Australian measurement systems company, GroundProbe, recently launched a new mine safety system in the world’s largest platinum mine at Rustenburg (formerly Potgietersrus), South Africa. 

Called the PitPod, this new system allows for the safe evacuation of people and equipment from open cast mines.

The PitPod’s alarms are integrated with data generated by GroundProbe’s Slope Stability Radar, which has been successfully used around the world for the past five years to detect rock face instability.

Rock falls – a major problem in open cast mines – are extremely dangerous for people working at the bottom of open pits, and also severely impact on mine productivity.

“The combination of these two systems – one relatively simple and the other at the cutting edge of technology – together make a marked difference in open cast mine safety,” said Lorrain Elsmore, GroundProbe’s Global Manager - Marketing.

Ms Elsmore said that Austrade had been a great help to this Queensland-based company in introducing their mine safety systems into new markets.

“GroundProbe has received three Export Market Development Grants (EMDG), which are administered by Austrade.

“These grants have helped us in so many practical ways, including market and site visits, attendance at tradeshows, and in providing advertising material for prospective customers.”

She said that the EMDG grants gave the company the ability to mitigate the high risk that small businesses face when expanding internationally.

“The EMDG program is ingeniously geared to provide ongoing support to companies needing the assistance to establish themselves internationally.”