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MINING INVESTMENT
MINING INVESTMENT

Learning opportunity on mining training’s competitive edge

18th May 2018

By: Martin Creamer

Creamer Media Editor

     

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The objective of the impressive Murray & Roberts Training Academy in Carletonville is to make mining workplaces safer, more productive, technically proficient and values driven.

The academy is registered with the Department of Higher Education, accredited by the Mining Qualifications Authority (MQA) and is a member of the British Safety Council.

Safety forms the backbone of all the training modules and statistics show that the training has resulted in significant safety improvements in the workplace.

In applying for a mining right, South African mining companies often opt to employ near-mine communities as part of the fulfilment of their social and labour plan obligations, which invariably involves the training of uninitiated workforces.

The academy is committed to cultivating efficient workforces that take businesses forward competitively and trainees have the benefit of MQA recognition on the successful completion of their training.

Run at an operating cost of R60-million a year, the academy’s training is attuned to the hands-on predominance of adult mining trainees, which is why mass assessment clicker technology, electronic learning (elearning), virtual reality, simulation and mock-up aids are used, as these have higher-end practical components that go beyond theory.

The capital investment has been significant. Four vertical mock-up shafts have been built at a cost of R20-million, the machine simulators in use cost R2.5-million apiece, elaborate training venues have been established and mining equipment is available in outdoor training areas for operation by learners.

Teaching consists of a stunning blend of ultramodern technologies and thoroughly conventional lecturing and instructor demonstrations, all designed to bring out the best in literate and illiterate learners, who range in age from 18 to 45.

There is strong focus on a 50:50 gender split for various community development programmes offered at the academy in support of the national drive to facilitate the entry of women into mining.

The academy’s instructors are equipped with tablet computers on which all the lessons are available in real time across the network. Updates become available in real time, phoning and emailing are facilitated and assessments can be done in the workplace using the tablets.

The academy’s carefully crafted leadership approach to education, training and development (ETD) begins with a far-reaching induction programme, which has established such a good record that some clients have come to request the academy take up the mine site induction role, which is generally the exclusive preserve of the mining companies themselves and carried out at mine site venues.

“They’ve come to realise that we have a world-class facility with the right level of trainers and lecturers,” Murray & Roberts Cementation business development director Allan Widlake told Mining Weekly during its recent visit to the academy, which trains 400 people a day over training periods averaging 20 days.

Customised Training

As a division of Murray & Roberts Cementation, the Murray & Roberts Training Academy provides clients with customised site-specific training solutions across a wide range of employment levels, taking in safety, health, environmental and quality qualifications, engineering, shaft sinking, trackless mining, conventional mining, mining services and community development.

Through the academy, companies that award mining project contracts to Murray & Roberts Cementation – which has a history of successful mine project delivery spanning more than a century and which is currently engaged in some of Southern Africa’s largest and most spectacular mining developments – are able to reap the benefit of having personnel trained in safety best practice and technical and occupationally directed workplace skills.

“Most importantly, we understand that every business has specific operating environments and the training is tailored to meet employee learning abilities,” Murray & Roberts Cementation ETD executive Tony Pretorius commented during Mining Weekly’s walkabout.

The teaching style is highly appreciated by learners, reflected by the academy’s 3 600- follower Facebook platform. Also reflected on Facebook is the way the academy goes all out to keep its learners engaged in sporting activities, which include regularly competing against the teams of neighbouring mines.

To meet recent demand, the academy also trains the personnel from mining companies outside of the Murray & Roberts group.

Most companies prefer trainees to have a matriculation certificate, but some allow students with lower grades to undergo training for entry-level semiskilled positions.

The training of illiterate learners, who comprise 10% of the overall intake, is being phased out, but, until it is, a separate stream is in place for such learners, who require longer periods of training.

The academy trains learners until they are found to be competent. Should an individual not master a particular skill set, a step-down course may be recommended to allow the incumbent to master a particular skill, with coaching taking place until the desired outcome is attained.

The academy benchmarks itself against training excellence elsewhere in its attempt to be the world’s foremost training centre in underground hard-rock mining, engineering and construction.

Clicker Programme

A session under way when Mining Weekly entered the induction venue was characterised by an automated voice calling on learners to use their mass assessment clickers. The mass assessment clicker programme involves learners clicking on multiple-choice answers in a convivial atmosphere of facilitated interaction.

“Short three,” came the voice, indicating the number of persons that were still required to answer part of the mass assessment clicker programme. “Short one,” followed soon after, and finally the word “unsatisfactory” was uttered, which promptly set off the recommencement of discussion on correcting what was “unsatisfactory”.

Following the clicker programme, Mining Weekly entered the well-structured elearning computer-based training venue, where learning is significantly accelerated using appropriately prepared video, audio and written study material.

Sixty different courses can be presented at any time in the elearning centre, where learners are allocated a learning curriculum, with a facilitator helping them through up to 3 000 different elearning interventions. Once completed, another facilitator accesses the report of the learner, who signs off before leaving for the next learning venue.

After receiving comprehensive elearning exposure, trainees are immersed in the high-technology world of virtual reality, where, during the Mining Weekly visit, first-hand insight into mining hazards and workplace risks was being gained.

During the tour of the virtual mine, a plan of action to render an upcoming tunnel sufficiently safe for working was provided, a rock face marked for drilling was examined, the battery bay inspected, the refuge bay entered, the notice board read and a winch checked.

When the academy allows interns and vacation students to do virtual tours, temperatures are increased to normal underground levels to provide a realistic underground mining experience.

Checklists provide guidelines for machine stripping, the reading of schematic drawings and the diagnosis of faults, as well as a long list of additional items.

“This is awesome,” Murray & Roberts Cementation project executive mine development Graham Chamberlain commented as he walked through the virtual mine.

The academy has found that coupling virtual reality training to theory provides trainees with valuable clarity.

Simulation Experience

The virtual reality training programme is followed by an opportunity for learners to mount simulators, where they acquire machine appreciation, workplace proficiency and enhanced health and safety awareness.

Mining Weekly watched as trainees moved levers on simulators in the exact same way as they would on actual machines. Their performance is recorded for benchmarking against best practice and each learner receives a performance report. Every effort is made to optimise skills ahead of learners being given the opportunity to operate actual machines available in the academy’s outdoor training areas.

Potential machine failures are simulated and operators are trained to activate the necessary response to these as well as to emergencies.

During Mining Weekly’s visit, the explosives instructor took his learners to the mock-up area, where they used inert explosives before returning to the classroom, where the do’s and dont’s were well displayed, along with details about various explosives products available for selection.

Nearby was a smoke machine used for self-rescue training to sensitise learners to the smoke, fires and high temperatures that can arise during emergencies in underground mining environments.

“Their training helps learners to experience the rescue packs in advance,” said Pretorius.

The mock-up infrastructure offers the opportunity to provide practical drill-and-blast training and creates awareness about mechanisation in underground mining and shaft sinking.

“We apply a more mechanised approach to shaft sinking, gained from our sister company in Canada,” Widlake explained. The method allows for a safer approach to shaft sinking, ensuring no concurrent activities take place one on top of the other in the shaft.

The academy assists in formulating specific ETD processes, systems, management mechanisms and infrastructure for clients and has also successfully established training centres at client operations when requested to do so.

Licence to Practise

Training culminates in the issuing of a licence to practise, which is awarded to learners who are able to demonstrate basic skills acquisition in the mock-up environment.

Thereafter, the academy facilitates further integrated learning in the workplace and, after a specified period, a summative assessment is carried out to gauge the applied competence of learners at work.

“So, it’s a really comprehensive process,” said Pretorius.

A training levy is charged for every person employed on a project being undertaken by Murray & Roberts Cementation and that levy is used to fund day-to-day on-site training at the academy.

The training academy includes basic accommodation, meals, recreational facilities and sponsored sports teams.

Full Training Spectrum

In addition to the training that takes place at the academy, Murray & Roberts Cementation offers courses that accommodate people at many other levels. With its training partners, it has introduced apprenticeship courses for artisan training as well as courses for foremen and learner miners.

Mining Weekly interfaced with eight learner miners from a diamond mine in Limpopo who have been undergoing training in hard-rock underground mining. They have progressed from being general workers to operators of 14 t load haul dump trucks and blasting ticket holders over several months, an indication of training at the higher end of the spectrum.

As project management is the core business of Murray & Roberts Cementation, it offers courses in project management and targets professional qualifications, including the Project Management Professional qualification, for all the project managers and contracts managers on its sites. It also offers courses in administration, human resources and finance. Beyond that, it sponsors bursars at universities and puts graduates through the organisation as new managers in training.

Murray & Roberts Cementation, with the Venetia Underground Project, the Mufulira Deep Expansion Project and Impala Shaft 16 among its many projects, is mobilising for the development of a large new manganese mine in the Northern Cape, where its first crew is already operational.

The second crew is being recruited and 12 crews will eventually be mobilised to that particular operation. It is also mobilising more crews for a big diamond operation in Limpopo, where more fleets of equipment are being introduced.

“Obviously, one must realise that refresher training takes place on a yearly basis, so a large number of employees are returning to the academy to receive the latest updates in the training modules before they return to site. It’s an ongoing process with new employees coming in and old employees being ‘refreshed’,” Widlake outlined to Mining Weekly.

Learning modules are updated continually. When important lessons are learnt on-site, those lessons are applied to the relevant training module, which is then updated and implemented as new incumbents enter training.

There is a great demand for what the academy offers, and hostel capacity has been increased accordingly. The academy community development programme began in 2016 with five learners, worked its way through 2017 with 287 learners and has the capacity to accommodate about 410 learners at any given time.

Edited by Martin Zhuwakinyu
Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor

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