Assessment of the Current State of Adoption of Digital Transformation Within Tanzania's Major Mining Sector

Abstract

The study assessed the current state of adoption of digital transformation within Tanzania's major mining sector. This study employed a mixed-methods approach with a cross-sectional survey design, in which case data were collected from randomly selected major mines across different sources. Primary data were collected through online surveys from 198 top management personnel and 586 employees, who were proportionately randomly selected, as well as semi-structured interviews with 20 key informants. Secondary data were collected from official documents and previous studies. Quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics in terms of frequencies, percentages, and composite mean scores generated by R version 4.3.2. Qualitative data were analysed using the thematic analysis methods following the Braun and Clarke (2006) six-stage method.

The degree to which digital tools are implemented varies between and across major mines, sections and departments regarding digital incident reporting systems, real-time safety monitoring systems, automated hazard detection systems, digital safety training platforms, and safety compliance tracking software. Some of the major mines (33.3%) exhibited low implementation maturity, indicated by partially implemented digital tools [Median Score = 2.6 – 3.2]. Such major mines were associated with delayed and infrequent systems updates, extended time before installations of new digital solutions, the lack of financial readiness indicated by a comparatively smaller proportion of OSH spending for safety digital tools, and low perceived cost savings resulting from implementing digital tools. However, the contrary was true for the 33.3% of the major mines approximating to fully implemented and optimised digital tools [Median Score = 3.81 – 4.4].