Mining Weekly

Sishen Iron Ore Company Community Development Trust CEO Shiphra Chisha, above, this month told a trust function in Kuruman that the ground work had been laid for the trust to realise its 2030 super plan of keeping beneficiary communities economically active well after mining ceased. South African strikes and global factors had, however, lowered the trust’s dividend income and thus impacted negatively on youth in particular, who make up more than half of its intended beneficiaries. In the past 12 months, the trust allocated more than R200-million towards better education outcomes by providing additional learning material, teacher curriculum training and special tutoring for underperforming learners, which resulted in the Northern Cape’s Bothitong high school achieving a 100% pass rate from 65% in 2011, and similar improvements in several other schools.