With the workforce on South Africa’s platinum belt ageing and the attraction of high-calibre candidates for employment being a challenge, platinum miner Wesizwe Platinum plans to boost its training initiatives and start construction of an accredited training facility by the end of the year.

“We have to address the skills shortage and make sure that there is a pipeline of skilled employees,” Wesizwe human resources executive Basetsana Ramaboa tells Mining Weekly.

She explains that the temporary structure, planned for construction at its Bakubung mine, near Rustenburg, in the North West, will consist of classrooms offering only theoretical health and safety refresher training. The other various training programmes that Wesizwe has presented since 2013 have been delivered at the facilities of external service providers, which will continue to offer these services.

Wesizwe will consider erecting a permanent structure once there have been discussions with other mines in the area on collaborative use of the centre.

“All our training is geared towards developing scarce skills and ensuring that there is a pool of talent available,” Ramaboa says.

Wesizwe has awarded 60 bursaries and equipped 572 trainees with portable skills, completed 108 learnerships and had 42 interns at the company over the last four years. Investment in the company’s training programmes reached R18.6-million in 2015. So far, R7.4-million has been allocated for training this year.

The training content for all the courses is equally theoretical and practical, and comprises several programmes including adult education, a range of portable skills, learnerships, business skills, internships and mentorship programmes.

The adult education training programme assists employees who have not yet acquired National Qualification Framework Level 1, which caters for numeracy and literacy skills.

Portable skills training focuses on skills outside mining to ensure that people remain employable or acquire entrepreneurial skills when the mine life ends. These skills include construction skills such as bricklaying or plastering, and computer literacy.

“Mining plays a critical role in the country’s economic growth; the learnerships, internships and mentorships are focused on skills required in the mining industry, for further development of the industry, and that of the country’s economy,” Ramaboa notes.

She says the business skills development covers a variety of training based on the need for specific skills. “We do audits to determine which skills need developing to fill the gaps.”

Wesizwe offers bursaries to external individuals, such as recent graduates, to support them in their pursuit of employment in the mining industry, growing their skills through learnerships and internships. “We also offer metallurgic and mining engineering students from nearby communities practical training during their university holidays,” Ramaboa points out.

The majority of staff-related training takes place on the job over about five years, with each employee required to meet certain targets every year, she says, adding that it takes three years to equip an artisan with the necessary skills.

Wesizwe outsources its training as required and undertakes yearly evaluations to determine whether programmes need to be amended to accommodate new skills or upskill individual employees for managerial positions.

Ramaboa says the training provided by Wesizwe has had a positive impact, especially in the community around its Bakubung mine.

As a junior miner, she says, Wesizwe has come a long way in skills development and making people employable, not only at its mining operation but also in the wider mining industry.