Mining companies in South Africa are increasingly taking up cloud based and outsourcing solutions, with utilisation of information and communication technologies rapidly taking shape in the industry as a way of reducing expenditure.

By 2018, expenditure on ICT platforms by SA mining companies is expected to top R2 billion, says a new report.

In 2013, mining companies in Africa's second largest economy spent an estimated R1.78 billion on ICT platforms.

Experts at Frost and Sullivan say in an upcoming report that "mining companies are moving away from high capital spend and are starting to migrate to, and make use of, more hosting and outsourcing solutions".

Joanita Roos, ICT industry analyst at the research and adviaory firm said "cloud-based services (in the SA mining sector) are also expected to grow at a CAGR of 26.7% by the year 2018" as the "adoption of cloud technologies is fast becoming a growing trend" in the mining industry.

The increased adoption and usage of such platforms, which has seen companies deploy technologies such as modelling, simulation, and condition monitoring, has lead to an increase in return on investments as a result of a reduction in running costs.