China’s Zhaojin Mining investing in technology to get ‘smart’ in search for gold
The company will spend US$19 million to automate some mines as labour costs rise
Zhaojin Mining Industry, one of China’s largest gold producers, plans to spend 120 million yuan (US$18.9 million) this year on technology to enable “smart and automated” operations at some of its mines, as part of a long-term strategy to counter rising labour costs.
The Hong Kong-listed company, based in the eastern province of Shandong, aims to make a return on the investment in equipment and software in five years, chairman Weng Zhanbin said in an interview.
“We have set aside a separate budget for information technology upgrades and innovation for the first time this year, with the aim of raising the quality of our entire production processes,” he said. “We are tackling everything from mining methods to ore smelting technology and the implementation of workerless smart mining.”
“Mechanisation, automation, digitalisation and smart operations are four pillars of our strategy.”
Zhaojin’s cash production costs, in which labour is a major component, rose 5.6 per cent last year to US$397.44 an ounce, after surging 5.9 per cent in 2016. Total costs, which also include materials, fuel and fixed costs such as plant and equipment depreciation, finance and administration, grew just 1.7 per cent last year and 2.5 per cent in 2016.
Asked if the strategy would result in staff cuts, Weng said: “Our plan is to maintain our staff numbers but increase output, partly by raising our efficiency through 24-hour operations.”
He added that big data technology would also be adopted through the collection of operating data to help management make better decisions.