South Africa vs Australia - how geotechnical work changes with the continent

Our new Senior Geotechnical Engineer Paul Couto recently migrated from South Africa with his family to take up a role with CM&G. While a change of this magnitude comes with the inevitable lifestyle culture shock – the professional variations came as a surprise. In this article, Paul delves into the differences of working in Australia and South Africa in mining and geotechnics.

As we arrived in a new land, filled with new prospects and opportunities, the nerves started to grow. South Africa to Australia is a migration path many South Africans have completed, are currently following or will consider in the future. The need for skills across the world, as well as the current political situation back home has made migration a considerable long-term consideration.

The change in culture was a huge shock to the system in many ways from personal to professional, but enlightening. Numerous changes to our lifestyles and ways of doing things were inevitable if we were to survive and make a success of the new adventure that we have embarked on.

The most significant change discussed with lots of colleagues and friends back home in South Africa was the change in the professional environment. The differences were notable and the pressure was on for me to adjust and learn quickly.

South Africa’s, orebodies and mineral wealth is relatively unique, with deep to shallow mining of narrow tabular and massive orebodies. The mining ranges across hard and soft rock, with surface to underground mines, spread out across the country. This has molded a “South African” way of mining, in relation to technical analysis and inputs.

Generally, empirical methods of analysis are performed for designs, onsite by the legally appointed geotechnical engineers, confirmed through practical knowledge and historical data. Recently, with auditing functions required to fulfil the legal obligations in the MHSA Act 29 of 1996, onsite geotechnical engineers have been preoccupied with auditing system compliance in the fight to prevent fall of ground (FoG) fatalities. This is complicated by the fact access to licenses of numerical software for onsite geotechnical engineers is limited or non-existent, time constraints and the considerable brain drain the South African mining industry is facing.  As a result, consultants have been tasked with the technical analysis of designs and design reviews.

The first of two considerable findings that knocked me off my feet as I entered the Australian work environment was the ability for geotechnical engineers working onsite to do their own technical analysis using numerical modelling, with access to a variety of licensed software. This was a big improvement.

The second motivational and empowering factor was the passion, need and compliance to safety protections for all mine employees and contractors. The responsibility and expectation that every person will do the “right thing” has created a culture that does not require the intense auditing processes mandated in South Africa. This allows a lot more time for geotechnical engineers to perform technical analysis and deliver more value.

I fully expect that this great learning curve I am on will continue and as I progress I will share more insights into my discoveries.