While consulting engineers are leading the building information modelling (BIM) drive, with designs and analyses being completely BIM-orientated, the technology has had mixed success for the mining industry in South Africa so far, says tertiary education institute University of Pretoria (UP) project management associate professor Giel Bekker.

“During design phases of construction projects, BIM components have been used well by design consultants. However, adopting the technology during construction projects remains challenging, which, unfortunately, depletes its potential value for the end-users.”

Bekker explains that the challenge of using technology for mining projects lies in collecting the correct data to assist in building prediction models for proactive management, owing to data becoming more valuable and facing “exponential advancement”.

Further, while the introduction of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) is accelerating in the local mining industry, Bekker says the value realisation of integrated BIM in mining remains low.

Read more:  Mixed review for BIM, Giel Bekker, Mining Weekly, 27 May 2022