Is South African mining ready for the skills of tomorrow?

Image credit: DC Studio on Freepik

The panel included several experts — from MechProTech's Evan Leroy Bird to Gary Lane from the Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, as well as Matimba Mahange, the CEO of JA Engineering, and government representative Dr Tebogo Makube from the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (DTIC).

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Marrying theory and practice

According to Gary Lane, the president of the Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (SAIMM), the country hasn't focused on science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).

Lane says this has led to "people with very low capability in a lot of the core engineering subject requirements in universities."

Matimba Mahange, JA Engineering CEO, then jumped in to say that as an engineer who developed his skills at companies like Anglo American, Sasol, De Beers, and BMW, South African mining companies used to be intentional about marrying theory learned at university with the practical skills needed in the field.

"What we're experiencing now is that we've got these engineers who come from university can't do anything, because where are they going to learn this stuff?" says Mahange.

He adds that "it's not the role of the university to teach people (practical skills)...that's where we are getting stuck."

Mahange suggests that policy and coordinating bodies should step in and create a system that fills the skills gap.

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Skills for the future

Lane believes the mines of the present and future need a wide range of skills, beyond simply mining engineering and metallurgy.

He says the sector needs to attract electrical engineers, civil engineers, mechatronics, as well as people with data and AR skills.

He adds that the undergraduate and postgraduate courses need to be aligned with the sector's needs.

"We've got to make sure the tertiary education programme aligns with what the industry of the future needs," says Lane.

"At the moment, there's a skills mismatch, and we've got to re-establish the bridging to get the skills and experience required as quickly as possible, which means we need OEMs, mining companies, investment houses, academia and regulators to work together to collaborate properly," advises Lane.

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Partnering with the world

From the government's point of view, DTIC's Dr Tebogo Makube believes partnering with other countries is key to developing skills, especially in the processing of critical minerals.

He says the sector needs to contextualise the skills required for the future mineral industry.

"There's a demand for polishing of glasses, there's a demand for ceramics, there's a demand for magnets, for defence materials. Do we have the skills to do this?"

"It's a different kind of skills that we require, but we are not going to be able to do that on our own, without the partnerships with other countries," says Makube.

"Are we training our people so that we can migrate them to the areas of a new era?"

"Skills are important, but we must contextualise the debate given the changing world that we find ourselves in," he adds.