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In a speech read on his behalf by the Chamber of Mines chief executive officer Mr John Chikombero during the school’s stakeholder consultative meeting and open day in Bulawayo yesterday, the chamber’s president Mr Winston Chitando said training needs for the Sadc region were diverse.
He said countries such as Zambia, South Africa, Namibia, Botswana and Angola had well-established mining industries with long and well-recorded histories.
“This state of affairs provides for an in-depth understanding of the unique features of each country in order to offer needs-based training. The geology alone for these countries is rich and diverse from the Bushveld Igneous Complex of South Africa, to the oil fields of Angola and the copper belt of Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo,” he said.
He said in response to the training needs for geological technicians for the region, besides the course on mine geology related to sampling and resource assessment and reporting, an understanding of the geology of the region was required.
“This will also involve field visits to areas of interest in the Sadc member states. The same will go for all other disciplines being taught at the school.”
In areas of mining, Mr Chitando said, not all countries were at the same level of development.
The mining methods, level of mechanisation, the use of automation and other such advances were at different levels.
“The school should therefore endeavour to ensure that the quality of lecturers, the depth of the library and the exposure of students is such that those that are trained at the school should not find it challenging to fit into the industry anywhere in the region and elsewhere in the world,” he said.
He said the School of Mines continued to develop strategic partnerships locally and regionally.
“As a regional institution, the school continues to develop more regional partnerships. Nationally, a new Memorandum of Understanding with Lupane State University was approved.
“Through the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development, a new linkage proposal with Equatorial Guinea is being mooted.
“This proposal is a positive move as it is a very good platform for the school to penetrate the West African market. The school continues servicing its regional partnership and networks with Namibia, South Africa, Mozambique and Botswana. A new MoU with the Minerals Research Institute of Tanzania has been drawn up and will be presented for approval in 2012,” he said.
Mr Chitando said students at the School of Mines were facing challenges securing placements for industrial attachments in the country.
He said in trying to be truly regional, effort should be put at placing some of the students at mining locations in the region.
“The experience and exposure gained in placing students regionally will be valuable to our own industry,” he said, adding that mine rescue was one of the training areas that still need to be developed.
He said the importance of emergency preparedness in a hazardous environment such as mining could not be overemphasised.
“It is important that a system be developed where the training of mine rescue brigades-men is not dependent upon the fortunes of a single mining operation as is the case in the country.”
At the moment, the School of Mines is waiting for the final ratification of the course on mine ventilation and environmental engineering with the designing of the course on mining of methane gas having been done.
Small-scale miners, officials from the Chamber of Mines, School of Mines staff, industry executives and senior managers and officials from Government departments attended the consultative meeting.
Online Reporter