15/10/2026
The Council for Geoscience (CGS) continues to contribute to discussions on the future of mining in the continent at Africa Mining Week 2026, taking place in Cape Town from 14–16 October 2026.
On Day Two, Ms Siphelele Buthelezi, Executive Manager: Office of the Chief Executive Officer at the CGS, participated in a panel discussion titled “Leveraging Advanced Technologies & AI to Transform Mining Practices for Sustainable Growth.”
The discussion explored how artificial intelligence (AI), geomapping, remote sensing, drones and other digital mining solutions are transforming mineral exploration, improving resource modelling, enhancing operational efficiency and supporting safer, more sustainable mining practices.
Ms Buthelezi emphasised that there is no panacea for transforming African mining, but that historical data mining, underpinned by digitisation and digitalisation, is one of the solutions. She further outlined how the CGS is focused on the integration of historical geological records with modern datasets and leveraging platforms such as the Virtual Core Library to unlock new insights and support exploration.
On the barrier to the adoption of AI in an African context, she stressed the importance of African solutions for African problems, highlighting data security, cloud infrastructure and data sovereignty as critical considerations when geological data is a strategic national asset.
