The Colliery Training College (CTC) has experienced the highest apprenticeship intake for the first quarter of the year since the global economic recession and expects a further increase in the second quarter.
“The slump in the commodities market during the recession saw a reductcrawler impact crusher usedion in artisan training spend by clients. However, CTC’s enrolment rates have since increased to record levels,” CTC MD Johan Venter tells Mining Weekly.
Currently, over 650 students at the CTC are entrolled for apprenticeships in various trades to meet the demand for artisans such as electricians, fitters and turners and boilermakers in the South African economy.
By April, CTC expects engineering student enrolments to increase to about 780.
“CTC’s stakeholders and customers in the mining industry are working towards developing the skills required for this industry. Artisan skills development is expensive and students rely on employers to sponsor them, not only financially, but also for purposes of workplace exposure,” he says.
CTC has also introduced new training courses, such as instrumentation, medium voltage and rigging. These courses have been made possible, in part, through donations from some mining companies, as well as the donation of instrumentation equipment worth about R 500 000 by local instrumentation equipment distributor Endress+Hauser, for hands-on training at CTC.
The college is also planning a new course in opencast coal mining for the second half of 2011.
“The training that we currently offer is predominantly for the underground mining sector. As about 54% of coal is currently mined by opencast methods, training requirements are moving towards opencast or surface mining qualifications. Many of CTC’s clients have expressed a need for this type of training,” Venter says.
The opencast courses, which are accredited by the Mining Qualifications Authority, are targeted at miners, fall-of-ground competent persons and blasting assistants.