Stopping tin, tantalum and tungsten mined in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC’s) troubled North Kivu region from getting into the wrong hands is again in the spotlight. Read on page 23 of this edition of Mining Weekly of a joint industry mechanism that is upping the ante in the Great Lakes region. Mines in the conflict areas are now being integrated into the so-called TRI Tin Supply Chain Initiative (iTSCi) to allow for conflict-free minerals to be exported to responsible buyers on the market. For example, after intensive effort, the Bisie mine, in Walikale territory, west of Goma, in the DRC, which reportedly produced about three-quarters of the cassiterite in the Central Africa region between 2006 and 2009, is now able to move on from its conflict-related past to a more stable future of new opportunities. Following the official validation of areas worked by artisanal miners across Walikale, those mines are now being integrated into the iTSCi to allow for conflict-free minerals to be exported responsibly. The production of cassiterite from the DRC in 2014 was just below 7 000 t of concentrate and it is hoped that significant additional tonnages can be achieved by North Kivu in due course. The production estimate from Walikale during its peak in the 2008 period was about one-third of the 7 000 t.

Botswana is so impressed with Canada’s mine safety model that it may become a requirement for all the country’s chamber members. Read on page 12 of this edition of Mining Weekly of Botswana Chamber of Mines safety committee and Debswana safety head Fred Jansen telling the thirteenth Botswana Resource Sector Conference, in Gaborone, last week that taking on the Mining Association of Canada’s programme had proved so effective that making its implementation a Chamber of Mines of Botswana membership requirement was under consideration. The programme has been made available to mining jurisdictions outside Canada by the International Council on Mining and Metals. As a result, Debswana took on the Canadian chamber’s Towards Sustainable Mining (TSM) programme, which coincided with a significant safety improvement for the company that is owned jointly by the government of Botswana and diamond company De Beers. TSM protocols and indicators come with guidance documents, which make it easy to implement. The Mining Association of Canada publishes implementation of the programme on its website “so there’s no place to hide”, said Jansen.

Diversified mining and marketing company Glencore last month announced funding of R2.76-million for a video mentoring facility for learners in the Phola community of Mpumalanga, which supplies employees to Glencore’s Tweefontein coal operation. Read on page 25 of this edition of Mining Weekly of the aim being to bridge the technological, geographical and cultural gap between teenagers in Phola and the technologically driven twenty-first century society. Earlier this year, the first class of 30 mentees were connected with their global video mentors in the US and in Canada. Renovated shipping containers make up the facility, which has a strong battery-backed Internet connection. Learners will be able to get homework assistance, have access to medical resources and research career paths, and make use of the education courses delivered face to face in Internet-mediated video mentoring sessions.