Investigating the use of knowledge management as a management tool in the mining industry

The main objective of this research study is to investigate the extent to which knowledge management is used within the mining industry. Knowledge management includes the identification and examination of available and required knowledge and the subsequent planning and control of actions to develop knowledge assets to accomplish organizational objectives. A structured questionnaire is used for the study. A total of 300 mines were randomly selected from a research population of mining organizations in South Africa, Africa and globally. The respondents were all part of senior management. A response rate of 64% was achieved. A significant number of respondents indicates that there is no transfer of knowledge about the best practices within their organizations. Some of the participants indicate that their organizations do not have the required technical infrastructure to enable knowledge sharing whilst some agree that the culture in their organizations is not conducive to the sharing of knowledge. A statistically and practically significant positive relationship with a large effect is found between the construct of knowledge management and perceived business performance. The mining organizations in Africa are ranked the lowest in terms of applications of knowledge management principles.