UPSKILLING COMMUNITIES Zambians are now being positioned on a global stage when it comes to latest innovations in low-grade copper mining
Canada-based mining and metals company First Quantum Minerals (FQM) aims to achieve a target of sourcing 25% of its employees from the surrounding area of the North-Western province of Zambia for the Sentinel mine in Kalumbila.
The miner states that its local employment figures have continued to rise in the past year, with 18.8% of the workforce now drawn from local communities.
The growth is the result of a deliberate drive by the mine’s operator and FQM subsidiary Kalumbila Minerals, responding to calls from local communities and leaders to ensure people from nearby areas benefit from the business.
In the last year, the company has registered an increase in the number of direct local employees from the North-Western province, now standing at 534 people, with an additional 406 local people employed at the mine by contractors. This is in addition to the majority of the workforce being employed from elsewhere across Zambia. Of the 2 773 direct staff employed by the mine, 96% are Zambian and 65% are Zambian youths.
However, the company hopes to up these figures further by drawing on a database of more than 20 161 applications from local communities, built up in the last five years, with the help of local leaders.
The local recruitment drive is centred on an ethos of social justice to ensure families living nearby benefit economically from the mine, while balancing the need to ensure equal opportunities for all employees.
The company’s objective is to ensure the workforce is more diverse and in tune with the ‘One Zambia, One Nation’ motto, rather than culturally standardised, while keeping the recruitment and employment process competitive, and avoiding favour to any one group, according to FQM.
“Diversity is one of Kalumbila Minerals’ major strengths, and tolerance and respect are at the core of this, and all its staff are expected to share these values. People are at the heart of FQM; the company is more people-centric than most would perceive it to be,” states Kalumbila Minerals human resources superintendent Mulenga Malata-Tembo.
“However, our challenge is to find the right skills and aptitudes to match the requirements of particular jobs, many of which require levels of education, skills and experience that are not easily found at local level,” she notes.
The mining firm is working on a long-term strategy to address these skills gaps through investment in local education, skills training and business mentorship, she explains.
The low-grade ore mined in Kalumbila needs new technology and equipment that require skills transfer from other countries.
“Zambians are now being positioned on a global stage when it comes to latest innovations in low-grade mining,” reinforces the company.
Malata-Tembo explains that Kalumbila’s comprehensive skills development programme has already helped to improve its operations, as well as boost the output from its workforce.
Kalumbila Minerals reiterates that it is particularly concerned with ensuring that knowledge transfer occurs between the mining operation and its local communities. It holds that, for this reason, it has implemented succession planning, as well as deliberate policies around training for its local employees.
The company explains that, its “superintendents that come in as expatriates, come in with this understanding and it also has a few Zambians, experts within their fields, who have been working in places like South Africa and Botswana, who have agreed to come home and be a part of the training and upskilling programme. However, it is part of every expatriate’s conditions or requirement to train and develop Zambians”, she says.
The company has also introduced a truck driver training programme, targeting the host community and resettled communities, under which people are firstly assessed to determine the raw potential of the individuals.
In addition, the company currently has 127 vocational scholarships under way as part of its local training programme. The company is also putting in place provisions to allow for further training and qualifications to university-level studies for those that have shone in the vocational scholarship programmes.
Improved access to quality education in its sustainability programmes in Kalumbila district continues to be a priority for Kalumbila Minerals, the company concludes.