Spanish mining technology company Torsa has launched its pan-African business hub in South Africa with intentions to drastically reduce mining incidents, and most importantly fatalities, in line with a presidential Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed end 2022.

During an official visit in October 2022, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and Spanish President Pedro Sánchez signed a MoU on cooperation in the field of Industry 4.0. President Sánchez announced that Spain will make approximately ZAR35 billion available over the next five years to support the participation of Spanish companies’ projects in South Africa and beyond.

With the governments intent to see higher levels of foreign direct investment by Spanish companies in South Africa, Torsa says it has accelerated its expansion in the African continent as its collision avoidance technology addresses recently gazetted South African health and safety regulations, to reduce harm and fatalities in local mining.

Most accidents on mines involve heavy equipment, vehicles and workers. This prompted the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy to bring into law the Chapter 8 clauses of the Mine Health and Safety Act Regulations relating to Level 9 vehicle intervention for collision avoidance in trackless mobile machinery, both surface and underground.

Under this law, mobile machines must be fitted with technologies that automatically detect the presence of any pedestrian or other machine within its vicinity. In the event where no action is taken to prevent potential collision, further means shall be provided for the mobile machine to return to a safe speed after the brakes are automatically applied.

The company’s solutions, such as its High Precision Collision Avoidance System with Lidar3D and GPS technology (among other technologies) it says offer centimetre precision and its unique Monitor Vibration System it says has reduced human injury reports by 80% in a year.

“The best technology is not always the best solution if it is not implemented in coordination with partners and customers. With 25 years’ experience of which a decade is mining-specific, and accolades by some of the world’s leading mining companies – such as Glencore and BHP, both present in South Africa – our technology is unrivalled and has provided millions of hours of uninterrupted work in all type of mines globally,” says Gabino de Diego, Director of Business Development at Torsa.

Ahead of the upcoming Mining Indaba taking place in Cape Town from February 6-9 2023, the company announced the opening of its local office and market presence, which it says is not only for the benefit of South Africa, but also a gateway to Africa. Torsa has chosen an iconic location for its offices in Johannesburg, namely the West Tower in Nelson Mandela Square (pictured).

Felix Martin Aguilar recently joined the Torsa management team to assist in the opening of the new South African branch. An engineer and entrepreneur, he has been living and working in South Africa for more than ten years. Torsa says his knowledge of the country and its business network will be key in achieving the company’s objectives.

“The launch of Torsa’s office in Johannesburg is another step in our goal of taking our technology to all the main mining markets in the world, particularly Africa,” says de Diego. “South Africa is a very interesting market, not only because of its mining potential, but also because of its strategic role within the African continent, as well as its current commitment to apply technologies and procedures focused on increasing safety and productivity in mining operations.”

De Diego says that in addition to its South African launch, Torsa has its sights set on the Copperbelt region and other important markets including Botswana, Mozambique and Morocco for future African expansion.

“Our target is to offer the South African and African mining market the same successes we have achieved for our clients throughout Latin America. Our experience in other areas, including distribution and renewable energy, brings technological developments that can benefit South Africa. In the field of distribution, Torsa works for the world’s leading distributors of medicines, like Alliance HealthCare, and in the renewable industry we have set up wind farms in Spain and Chile to provide energy to the equivalent of a city of half a million inhabitants with an investment of more than 300 million euros,” he says.