Modern Mining November 2019

Regular upgrades keep Bentley Park at the forefront of training

train 176 young jobless learners in basic mining-related skills. Those who success- fully complete the six-month programme will earn a Level 2 National Certificate in Health, Safety and Environment for Mining and Minerals. Most trainees – half of whom are women – are taken up by Murray & Roberts Cementation’s contract mining operations to begin exciting careers in the mining industry. 

Further enhancements at the Murray & Roberts Training Academy (MRTA) train- ing facility, Bentley Park, are keeping the organisation at the top of its game in mining skills development. The extensive training infrastructure near Carletonville in Gauteng is constantly adding to its resources as the demand requires, according to Tony Pretorius, edu- cation, training and development executive at Murray & Roberts Cementation. “Among our new facilities is an index- ing wall on which drill rig operators can be trained to drill on a horizontal plane,” says Pretorius. “We are also constructing a new tunnel with a face wall on surface to teach miners how to take line and grade and accurately mark off a development end with laser technology.” He highlights the value of the MRTA’s ‘blended learning’ approach, which makes the learning process more effective by including not just classroom lectures but also e-learning, virtual reality, bench mod-

elling, simulations and integrated learning in a workplace mock-up. The facility prepares trainees mainly for the hard-rock underground mining environment, in which Murray & Roberts Cementation is a leading contractor. Other recently developed mock-up facilities at the site include a bord-and- pillar layout constructed on surface to facilitate practical, supervised training for

most primary and secondary trackless activities. There is also a figure-of-eight surface roadway for LHD driver train- ing, complete with brake-test slopes. The fleet of trackless vehicles used for training at MRTA includes LHDs, a drill rig, a bolter, a telescopic boom handler, a mechani- cal scaler and a mechanised shotcreting unit. With grant-funding from the Mining Qualifications Authority, MRTA will this year

Inspection training on a drill rig underway at the Murray & Roberts Training Academy.

November 2019  MODERN MINING  9