The skills gained through surface-mining qualifications are in high demand in the mining industry, owing to service providers wishing to upskill their employees to remain competitive and the Department of Mineral Resources’ stricter enforcement of requirements for competence in the industry to improve safety, says training company Xtract Training Services.
“There is a growing demand in the surface-mining industry for skilled personnel with competence certificates,” Xtract Training Services director Lynne Montgomery states.
Interest from South Africa’s women minersin surface-mining programmes presented by Xtract has also increased as a result.powder stone miller for asphalt
These programmes cover the extraction processes at various levels as well as related health and safety and statutory compliance training; processing to produce construction aggregates and the associated quality control programmes are also provided.
While the presence of women in the mining industry was frowned upon and discouraged prior to 1994, women are now becoming more promdaily maintenance check list for jaw crusherinent in the sector and are undertaking training in both operational and technical areas, says Montgomery.
Depending on the course, between 5% and 30% of students that enrol each year are women.
“There is no reason why women should not be prominent in the mining industry,” she states.
There is also growing interest in the company’s courses from opencjaw crusher pe 250 400 price listast and strip mines, quarries producing limestone, aggregates, industrial materials and dimension stone, as well as the contractors and suppliers servicing the surface-mining industry. Enquiries are also regularly received from neighbouring African countries.
Currently, growth in the quarry industry is stagnant and this provides an opportunity for the industry to upskill its staff to prepare hill stone crusher mill where in pakistanfor the upswing, says Montgomery.
The surface-mining and quarrying industry has had to cope with the loss of experienced supervisors over the past 15 years, with new supervisors having to be rapidly promoted, with possible reduced exposure to the broad skills needed.
Further, the company states that the need for supervisors with rock-breaking qualifications for surface emineral crusher sale with low pricexcavations has once again become evident.
Last year, 50 rock-breaking qualifications were completed while 50 people also com-pleted the blast assistant skills programme and 150 individuals were assessed competent in the Examine and Make Safe course for surface mines and quarries.
Continued contact and benchmarking have to be maintained with international professional institutions and universities to establish and maintain worldwide best practices. Further, partnering with the top industry experts in South Africa keeps Xtract at the forefront of training in the mining industry, says Montgomery.
“Our facilitators, assessors and moderators comply with specific Mining Qualifications Authority (MQA) criteria, including appropriate qualifications relating to the subject matter, considerable experience and good presentation skills.
Xtract courses aim to provide far more than the standard requirements governed by the MQA,” she says.
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ractical exercises and work experience, as well as on-the-job assessment to gain com-petence, are also required to complete a qualification. Therefore, it is essential that candidates are employed by a mine or a quarry.
Xtract currently has to turn away hundreds of potential applicants because they are not employed in the mining industry and, as a result, cannot fulfil the requirements of the quali-fications.
“This is a major problem as mines are reluctant to employ unqualified people.”