Technology transfer of winder ropes research

Abstract

Originally the research was sponsored collectively by the mining industry through the Chamber of Mines, and later through government levies raised and administered by the Safety in Mines Research Advisory Committee (SIMRAC). The CSIR (a semi-government organisation) was the initial co-ordinator of the research. Because of their intimate involvement in the project, both the CSIR and Anglo American Corporation also sponsored their own winder ropes related investigations from time to time. The reports on these "privately" sponsored investigations were made available to the research effort. By the year 2000, more than 100 research reports had been produced. These reports either had some bearing on the new rope load factors that were included in the regulations, or were produced as a result of the changes introduced to the regulations. This report summarises the research carried out. The findings of a large part of the research effort have become common knowledge and for that reason, some of the investigations that were carried out would now seem superfluous or nonessential. To appreciate why different projects were carried out, and why the direction of the research changed course from time to time, the events relating to the research during the period 1982 to 2000 is given in a more-or-less chronological order (the "history").