Browsing by Author "Du Plessis, Johan Andre"

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    Comparing sustainable development potential of metal beneficiation industries by using publicly available sustainability information
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2016-12) Du Plessis, Johan Andre; Bam, Wouter; Schutte, Cornelius Stephanus Lodewyk ; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Engineering. Dept. of Industrial Engineering.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: South Africa has the largest mineral endowment in the world, yet the value it derives from these vast resources remains below potential. This is a direct result of the lack of local beneficiation of these resources (i.e. local valueaddition to resources) . This has led the South African government, and governments of other countries facing similar challenges, to pursue increased local beneficiation of its resources. As a result, policy-makers in South Africa and abroad are now faced with the expensive and time consuming process of selecting viable industries that can be developed to increase local beneficiation. The advent of mainstream corporate sustainability reporting and the subsequent flood of sustainability information into the public domain has now produced an opportunity to make use of this information to effectively select potential industries for which detailed feasibility studies can be done. More specifically, this project aimed to investigate the possibility of developing a framework that makes use of publicly available sustainability information to rapidly, and at a high level, compare potential metal beneficiation industries. This allows prioritisation of feasibility studies on industries showing the most local development potential. The framework is composed of 18 equally-weighted indicators; 6 for each of the three dimensions of sustainable development. The indicators are constructed from 30 sub-indicators selected from the GRI G4 sustainability reporting guidelines and 10 sub-indicators developed specifically for the framework. The indicators are aggregated using non-compensatory multi-criteria aggregation to produce a single index value for each sustainability dimension, thus allowing comparison of industries in terms of only three index values. Table 3.4 presents a summary of the indicators used in the framework. In order to test the utility and shortcomings of the framework, platinum beneficiation was used as case study. More specifically, the local production of catalytic converters and platinum jewellery was compared. The catalytic converter industry was found to be superior in the economic and social dimensions with 92 per cent and 81 per cent confidence, respectively. The platinum jewellery industry was found superior in the environmental dimension with 71 per cent confidence. The confidence intervals were calculated from 10 000 iterations in a Monte Carlo simulation conducted to quantify the impact of input uncertainty on the outputs generated by the framework. The superiority of the catalytic converter industry in two of the three dimensions supports the current development policy priorities in South Africa with much focus being placed on further development of the automotive industry. Based on the results generated by applying the framework to the platinum industry, it was concluded that the framework successfully facilitates the comparison of potential industries. The ease-of-use of the framework, rapid generation of results and hierarchical indicator structure (which allows efficient analysis of the results) were identified as some of the strengths of the framework. Some weaknesses identified included the possibility of subjectivity and embedded effects in input data that may distort the results generated and the dependence of the framework on publicly available information. It is recommended that further testing of the framework by application to more case study industries be done to ensure the framework indeed captures all necessary effects and adequately compares the industries. Further, broadening the framework to more explicitly include important and unique local factors is cited as a possible improvement that can be investigated in further studies. Finally, based on the successful comparison in this study, it is recommended that the framework be applied to more potential industries as to identify new opportunities and promote their development in South Africa.