MTN, China Telecom, and Huawei have partnered to launch Africa’s largest 5G-enabled smart mine in Northern Cape, South Africa. That initiative marks a milestone in the continent’s mining sector, leveraging a state-of-the-art 5G private network to revolutionise operations.
The network provides ultra-reliable, high-speed connectivity for applications such as personnel surveillance, vehicle tracking, and unmanned trucks, significantly improving productivity, workplace safety, and operational efficiency. Additionally, the project promotes greener mining practices by optimising energy consumption and resource management, aligning with global sustainability goals.
The collaboration also demonstrates the potential of 5G to drive industrial transformation and positions the mine as a leader in sustainable mining while contributing to Africa’s broader digital transformation. The success of this initiative stems from the expertise of the three industry leaders.
Huawei delivered a tailored 5G private network, MTN provided robust infrastructure and network integration expertise, and China Telecom contributed its global knowledge in system integration and innovative digital solutions. Beyond mining, MTN is rapidly expanding its 5G private network business across sectors such as oil and gas, ports, manufacturing, and education, as well as extending its 5G presence to countries like Nigeria, Zambia, Côte d’Ivoire, and Cameroon.
Chinese Bitcoin miners continue to control a significant portion of the global mining network, holding over 55% despite the country’s outright ban on cryptocurrencies. According to Ki Young Ju, CEO of CryptoQuant, while Chinese mining pools dominate the network, US pools gradually gain ground, managing around 40% of the mining power. The US pools primarily serve institutional miners, whereas Chinese pools cater to smaller miners in Asia.
This continued dominance persists despite China’s blanket ban on Bitcoin mining and trading, implemented in 2021. Even with these restrictions, technological advancements and the decentralised nature of cryptocurrencies have allowed mainland users to circumvent regulations, leading to increased money laundering risks. In response, China is set to amend its Anti-Money Laundering (AML) regulations in 2025 to oversee cryptocurrency transactions better.
The crypto market faces challenges, with Bitcoin miners reporting the lowest revenue in a year during August. Mining revenue fell to $827.56 million, a decrease of over 10.5% from July but a slight increase from the previous year. The number of Bitcoins mined also dropped from 14,725 in July to 13,843 in August, as the cryptocurrency remained around $25,000 for much of the month.
Earlier in May, the Congress of the state of New York drafted a bill that would ban bitcoin mining in the state of New York. Yesterday, on June 30th drafted bill passed the floor of the New York State Senate, and will become the law. With this new law, the bitcoin mining, or any other ‘cryptocurrency mining operations that use proof-of-work authentication methods to validate blockchain transactions’.
In order to participate in bitcoin network security, bitcoin miners solve the cryptographic problem (called ‘target’) and provide the proof-of-work result. The first one who submits the correct answer, claims the award in a form of a newly minted bitcoins.
Bitcoin mining machines, are specialized computer graphic cards ASIC (which stands for Application-Specific Integrated Circuit) that consume a lot of electricity. Even the smallest ones are more powerful than several personal computers joint together. The amount of electricity needed for the mid-to-full size mining operation is almost the same of the amount used for powering massive computer data centers. This, of course raised a lot questions related to the environmental impact of the cryptocurrency mining.
In the US, and other parts of the world, concerns are growing around the bitcoin mining industry. Miners are utilizing the alternative sources of energy, as more and more countries are charging bitcoin miners an expanded price for electricity. Miners have been particular efficient making deals with the oil and gas companies, as they use natural gas and byproducts of oil drilling.
