JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – South Africa's Mineral Resources Minister Susan Shabangu on Monday heaped praise on Gold Fields for investing R26-million in mining skills development and challenged other mining companies to follow suit.

The three-year sponsorship deal comprises investments in the mining engineering faculties at both the University of the Witwatersrand and the University of Johannesburg.

The announcement comes amid a renewed sense of urgency among industry and government to address the lack of high-level, scarce skills in the country.

Shabangu said at Monday's official handover that South Africa needed everybody to participate in skills development and drew attention to South Africa's significant fall in global mining status as indicated by the just-published Fraser Institute ratings.

"If everybody works together with government, we'll maximise the outcome of skills creation in South Africa and improve competitiveness," Shabangu added.

Gold Fields CEO Nick Holland said that, while South Africa's 4 600 engineers of all disciplines officially represented a 15% shortfall, he believed that the real shortfall was considerably greater.

"It's critical that we start increasing the pipeline," Holland said.

Only 500 of the 4 600 engineers were practising mining engineers.

"That's a staggeringly low number, and it shows that the shortage in the mining industry is even more acute than anywhere else," he added.

Wits University's mining faculty intake in 2010 was 228 and between both Wits and Pretoria University, there were only 92 mining engineering graduates in 2009 - 65 at Wits and 27 at Pretoria - 40% of the first-year intake.

At that rate, South Africa was not going to replace its ageing work force and its losses to international mining companies that were recruiting many of South Africa's young mining engineers.

"We've got no time to lose," he said.

"If we are going to transform the industry and the economy at large, we need to be training more historically disadvantaged blacks. Hence the need to replace those that are leaving with more from the general population, so that we can improve the representivity in industry in general and in the mining sector," Holland added.

In addition to the R26-million three-year pledge to the two universities, Holland said that Gold Fields spent R200-million a year on education and training, which included basic literacy.

Wits vice-chancellor and principal professor Loyiso Nongxa said he was confident that the partnership with Gold Fields would yield benefits for the development of South Africa and the continent.

The universities will receive a one-off capital injection of R8-million followed by R6-million a year for three years.

In return, Gold Fields has naming right status for the infrastructure that it sponsors, as well as participation in advisory committees at both universities.

At Wits, the funds will be used for the expansion of the fourth quadrant of the Chamber of Mines building that houses the faculty of engineering; the equipping of a new 100-seater mining design laboratory; the upgrading of the mining school's main design laboratory; and for the subvention of the salaries of full-time senior tutors.

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