Mining under the magnifying glass at expo

Mining Technical Exhibition Company has been around for over 28 years now and since it was established its purpose is to improve the innovation transformation of growth.

April 29, 2021

Emmanuel N Mthimunye 2 minutes read

“Giving back to our communities is our priority,” says Mr Andrew Macnamara, Director of Mining Technical Exhibition (MTE).

Mining Technical Exhibition Company has been around for over 28 years now and since it was established its purpose is to improve the innovation transformation of growth.

They had an expo on Wednesday, April 21 at the Portuguese Hall.

“As the Mining Technical Exhibition Company, we saw that it is very vital for us to host this expo event as it’s our way of giving back to the community. This expo is not about to showcase our machinery, but to show the community of eMalahleni the things that we use in the mining for us to produce coal and distribute it to the power stations so that they could be able to generate electricity and provide lights for the community,” said Macnamara.

Macnamara further said as the host of this expo event, he did not expect to see this enormous number of people, therefore to him this simply shows that the people of eMalahleni do appreciate what these mines are providing to them.

“I’m very happy to see how people have responded to this expo event as much as we do these events annually, but I can freely confirm that this is a big one we had. People showed a positive response, and I’m also happy that even the youth is participating in this event and that will help them to develop some love for mining,” said Macnamara.

Many mining companies, as well as construction companies, have attended the expo event to educate people about mining and especially about the dangers of illegal mining. “I would like to state that people should not be afraid to report any illegal mining activities that are happening,” said Macnamara.

Mrs Shandri Burger from Afrigrit told WITBANK NEWS that their work is to rehabilitate slag dumps and use the slag for various purposes like: road building, brick manufacturing, stemming materials for explosive blasting at mines and sandblasting grit for corrosion protection. “I would like to encourage the youth to participate in such expo events to get information and learn more about this industry. Mining is very broad, and it does not focus on mining only, but it also has engineering, construction, mechanicals and all these departments. They have relevant people of which are willing to give or share information which could be helpful to others,” she said.

“I’m happy to be here today, it’s my first time attending this expo and I had fun, I’ve learned a lot, even the information I got here is going to help me to know more regarding air conditioner system’s operation since I’m studying mechanical engineering. I think the information I got here is very important to me because for me now it seems like I’m doing my practical. I’m familiar with some machines here like the bulldozer starter, train chamber and conveyor belt. This experience was very important to me. I now have the information which I did not get at varsity,” said Sibanyoni, one of the many attendees.

MTE encourages the eMalahleni public to participate in such expo events so that they could gain more knowledge when it comes to the mining industry because eMalahleni is the core heart of the mines.