In a bid to keep its promise, Majwe Mining Joint Venture (Pty) Ltd has eventually sent two of its local employees for a mining study in Australia as the mining company contracted for waste mining by Debswana at the Jwaneng Cut 8 aims to fulfill the pledge to transfer skills to locals.
At the opening of its logistics office in Jwaneng mid this year, officials of the company–a joint venture between Leighton Africa Botswana, promised the audience would leave behind a lasting legacy of first class transfer of skills on locals.
Majwe Mining has now sent Israel Monkutlwatsi and Gasebeche Kemorwale for a yearlong secondment to Leighton Contractors Australian mining operations.
The move is expected to give the two exposure to world class mining operations.
“These employees will come back empowered to impart the knowledge they have gained. It is hoped that they will be provided and equipped with the best international mining skills that will not only benefit them, but also the entire country and mining industry,” said Company Director Iain Speirs.
Besides providing necessary on the job training to Batswana employees, Majwe and its Sub-Contractors are actively involved in the National Internship Programme.
“Some of the interns have been successfully absorbed into full term employment, by the various contractors on the Cut 8 project. Majwe Mining has also engaged Graduate trainees as part of the local skills development program,” Speirs added in a statement.
Contracted to do business in the country, foreign companies are accused of fulfilling their business interests, leaving the locals empty handed without skills to independently fend for themselves for a living.
The same company would in no time revisit Botswana to do the same job which could have been afforded the locals had these foreign companies imparted knowledge to the locals.
Majwe Mining Joint Venture, however, intends to break the chain, pledging to leave a legacy of skills in a country where skills shortage is still a problem in the mining sector.
A subsidiary of Australia’s Leighton group, Leighton Africa Botswana brings a wealth of international experience and world best practices from all over Australia, Northern and Southern Asia and the Middle East.
South Africa’s Basil Read, on the other hand, is the leading specialist contract mining service provider as Bothakga Burrow Botswana is a diversified multi-disciplinary engineering, mining and contracting company.
The company is 100 percent Botswana citizen owned, priding itself in merging internationally recognized best practices with local Botswana expertise and knowledge to bring value and add to its products and services.
Basil Read operates on various sites around the country and has experience in gold, platinum, chrome, uranium, iron ore and diamond mining.
Majwe Mining Joint Venture provides mine scheduling, drilling and blasting at Cut 8 in Jwaneng mine – a daunting task that demands highly exceptional skills in mining.