As Africa renews its efforts to improve mining’s developmental impact, the spotlight is increasingly shifting to the skills needed to manage the sector and the capacity of African educational institutions to deliver them, says University of the Witwatersrand’s (Wits’) Centre for Sustainability in Mining and Industry (CSMI) director professor Caroline Digby.

Although the shortage of technical skills in mining engineering and geology is well publicised, the need to generate a wider range of crucial skills, if mining is to forge a more integrated and positive role in economic growth and sustainable development on this continent, is becoming apparent, she adds.

Digby says the dearth of these skills has resulted in Africa – despite its abundance of mineral resources and long history of mining – not yet reaping the expected developmental benefits.

As a result, African governments have endorsed the African Mining Vision (AMV), which aims to manage Africa’s minerals so that the mining sector can proactively contribute to growth and development.

The African Minerals Development Centre (AMDC) is the implementing arm of the AMV and must translate the AMV into practical solutions for reducing poverty and involving people in development.

Digby explains that, alongside promoting the enhanced use of geological and geospatial information, broad-based skills development in the mining sector is one of the AMDC’s priority work streams, which, in turn, presents a major opportunity to build cross-border partnerships and support across Africa’s educational institutions.

While the CSMI contributes to postgraduate degree courses at Wits’ School of Mining Engineering and other departments, it mainly provides short training programmes and workshops for practitioners already active in the private and public sectors.

“At the CSMI, we see great value in establishing a robust programme of continuous professional development for all stakeholders in the sector.

“As we develop our suite of courses, we plan to move in the direction of on-site training and residential block courses, in conjunction with developing our on-line or distance learning capability,” Digby highlights.

The CSMI’s Minerals Industry Risk Management course, originally developed at diversified miner Anglo American’s request for roll-out across their operations worldwide, focuses on more integrated delivery of training across Africa and mining regions globally. It further aims to initiate a radical change in safety within operations by improving managers’ practical understanding and practice of safety risk management.

“As international standards start to be implemented more strongly and performance requirements converge, it will become more common to bring together internationally accredited providers capable of delivering training at an international standard,” Digby points out.

Safety, health, environment and community regulations worldwide have been tightened in response to growing concerns about the poor performance and high-profile accidents in the industry.

However, Digby says these regulatory frameworks in Africa are still somewhat piecemeal and the capacity of the various regulatory agencies to enforce and monitor compliance is generally weak.

The CSMI has, therefore, been delivering accredited short courses for mining regulators since 2009. The modules examine legislation and its enforcement, as well as the tools and approaches available to regulators such as inspections, audits and investigation methods.

The centre’s research has shown that much still needs to be done to build capacity, as most regulators have difficulty in finding and retaining the right candidates, as they are often lured away to the private sector by higher salaries or a better resourced work environment.

“Therefore, we need to advocate that more formal continuous professional development and mentoring to be linked to career progression in the public sector if we are to dispel the widely held perception that regulators are poorly equipped to deal with a better-resourced private sector,” stresses Digby.

The demand for new skills is not restricted to the public sector and to regulators – mining companies are also increasingly realising the need for a more holistic set of skills to manage their business.

“From the earliest days of exploration, company personnel are being asked to manage a complex terrain of sustainable development issues.

“Gone are the days when an underperforming mine manager can be shunted into community relations and be expected to transform overnight into a successful communicator and relationship builder in the local community,” says Digby.

The CSMI has partnered with consultancy Synergy Global Consulting in 2013 to deliver a four-module programme on community-relations practice to manage social risks and improve cooperation among diverse stakeholders.

Digby says the ‘Tracking the Trends 2014’ report, released by advisory firm Deloitte this year, states that the talent gap is one of the top ten issues facing mining companies in the coming year – a trend that is apparent at all levels of management.

“Given that we can expect the future to be more uncertain from commodity price volatility to climate change impacts, we as universities must respond proactively to equip tomorrow’s leaders with the multidisciplinary skills and resilience that will ensure mining maximises its contribution to sustainable development, concludes Digby.