Author: Rennie Naidoo, Professor of Information Systems, University of the Witwatersrand

If you visit a commercial mining operation anywhere in the world today, some sights and sounds – workers descending in elevators to underground shafts, the roar of truck engines – will be much the same as they have been for decades. But, like many other industries, mining is changing. Digital mining involves the use of digital technologies to make mining operations more efficient, safer, and sustainable. This industry emerged about a decade ago and has developed quickly over the past few years. This uptick is the result of recent advances in sensor technology, data analytics and artificial intelligence (AI), including…