The joint venture behind the Jwaneng Cut 8 project has pledged to leave behind a lasting legacy of skills transfer in a country where skills shortage is still a problem in the mining sector.
Majwe Mining Joint Venture managing director, Ian Speirs, said at the opening of the logistics office at the mining town he was confident and certain that the skills transferred to the employees will ‘be of first class quality’.
“This is because the equipment that we are using here is the first of its kind in Botswana, if not Africa,” Speirs pledged.
Majwe Mining Joint Venture is a combination of Leighton Africa Botswana, Basil Read and Bothakga Burrow. The three companies originate from Australia, South Africa and Botswana, respectively.
The venture is destined to impart world class mining skills to Batswana, with the first batch expected to go to Australia soon.
“We will also be sending some of our employees for secondment opportunities in Australia. This is meant to equip them with international expertise on equipment and process used on the other side of the world,” Speirs added.
These employees will come back empowered to impact the knowledge to peers, he said.
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.
Majwe Mining, which is doing the P3.8 billion phase of Cut 8, currently has a compliment of 500 employees with most of them coming from Jwaneng and the surrounding villages.
Besides providing mine scheduling, drilling and blasting, the venture will truck and shovel waste removal- daunting task that demands highly exceptional skills requirements in mining.
Contracted by Debswana, the more than 5-year project will expand Jwaneng Mine’s lifespan and is expected to impart these scarce skills and knowledge during the period of the contract.
Majwe Mining Joint Venture logistics offices, officially opened last Thursday, are located outside the mine to give the community access to the operations and services of the company.
