For Africa to mitigate the impact of mining activities on its environment and society, urgent skills cultivation is needed to properly manage the industry, argues University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) Centre for Sustainability in Mining and Industry (CSMI) adjunct professor Caroline Digby, further highlighting the importance of educational institutions in delivering quality education.

“The shortage of technical skills, such as those required by mining engineers and geologists, has been well publicised for some time now. What is increasingly apparent, however, is that we 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.

“Capacity needs to be built in fields like strategic planning, legislation, contracts, mine funding, fiscal policy, environmental management, community affairs and human rights,” she tells Mining Weekly.

Digby notes that the CSMI endeavours to properly define what sustainability means to the mining industry and its stakeholders, as people often attach personal connotations to the term.

The institution offers applied research projects and training on three aspects of sustainability, the first of which entails occupational health and safety (OHS) and the necessity for mineworkers to return from work without having been harmed, either physically or mentally.

Research in this area includes the effectiveness of outcomes-based OHS legislation in South Africa, a review of the implementation of mineworkers’ right to refuse dangerous work, the efficacy of health and safety officials in promoting worker’s adoption of OHS principles and a review of OHS performance data in South Africa.

The second area of applied research and training comprises environmental policy and governance, which is concerned with the impact that mining has on the biophysical environment. This research field highlights different regional approaches to managing the environment around mining operations and measuring the mining industry’s environmental footprint.

The third area of applied research and training studies socioeconomic development, which is concerned with how mining impacts on local communities, regional prosperity and the national economy.

This type of applied research project highlights the changing socioeconomic and industrial relationships in South Africa, as well as regulations on artisanal and small-scale mining operations in Southern Africa.

Further, the projects propose ways in which the local mining industry can contribute positively to broad-based black economic empowerment and social development in South Africa. They also deal with best practice with regard to mine closure.

Digby notes that there are several cross-cutting themes under each subject of sustainability, which highlights the need for a multidisciplined approach when it comes to attaining sustainability.

“We understand the importance of talking across disciplines from our work with other Wits schools, including the Society, Work and Development Institute, Wits School of Law, Wits School of Economics and Business Sciences and Wits School of Architecture and Planning,” says Digby.

She adds that all these disciplines need to be brought together if mining industry stakeholders want to achieve a more sustainable and responsible industry.

“We are positioned as a coordinator of the different skills that are incumbent on the different schools and as a bridging centre between academia and industry practitioners,” she concludes.