Modern Mining July 2019

MINING News

Partnership seeks to boost pipeline of female engineers

spoke of her humble beginnings as an Anglo American bursar, to becoming the first female General Manager of De Beers’ Kimberley and Voorspoed mines. She was later appointed Senior Vice President of the Group’s Sightholder Sales in South Africa before taking over as Deputy CEO of De Beers Consolidated Mines in 2017. She has been in her current role since April 2019. “The world you are about to enter into requires passion, dedication and hard work, but you must always remember not to compromise who you are along this journey – always stick to your values. I am very proud to be part of a company that is driven by its purpose to re-imagining min- ing to change people’s lives. We are also committed to empowering women and girls and I hope you take this opportunity to learn and become the best versions of yourselves,” said Zikalala. The students were also given the opportunity to enter into the world of diamonds, interacting with various De Beers Group departments such as De Beers Group Technology, Exploration, Innovation (Ignite) and Element Six. The evening ended with a simulation exercise that tested their problem-solving skills and teamwork. In August this year a series of half-day GirlEng #AskAnEngineer workshops will begin, facilitated by engineers, students and the WomEng team. Each session will target 200 girls in schools around De Beers Group’s operations. The first is in Musina, South Africa, followed by sessions in Windhoek, Namibia, and Orapa and Jwaneng in Botswana. completed to date, we are extremely pleased with the results as they have sig- nificantly extended the footprint of the three Kari discoveries. Moreover, these results boost our confidence that maiden resources will be delineated for Kari West and Kari Center before year-end. We look forward to continuing to build on our recent value creation success, as noted with the recently published maiden reserve at Kari Pump which was discovered at a cost of less than US$13,50/oz of reserve.” The Kari anomaly covers an area 6 km long by 3 kmwide and is located 7 kmnorth- west of the Houndé processing plant. 

WomEng Fellowship Programme participants (photo: De Beers).

Beers Group, Unilever and EY, is designed to strengthen the students’ employability and leadership skills and cultivate innova- tive entrepreneurial thinking through the WomEng Innovation Challenge. Students are challenged to develop an engineer- ing business solution to meet the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. De Beers Group hosted 60 female pre-and-post graduate engineering stu- dents from South Africa, Botswana and Namibia at its Johannesburg Head Office on Thursday, 4 July 2019 to learn more about De Beers Group and the diamond value chain. The students were hosted by Managing Director of De Beers Group Managed Operations, Mpumi Zikalala, who took the aspiring female engineers through her journey in the mining industry. Zikalala prising 104 000 m has been drilled since November 2018 over the large Kari gold- in-soil anomaly, totalling over 300 000 m since drilling began in 2017. The ongoing exploration programme has continued to be highly successful as approximately 85 % of holes drilled encountered meaningful mineralisation, resulting in the extension of all three discoveries made in the Kari area. Comments Patrick Bouisset, Endea­ vour’s Executive President Exploration and Growth: “With more than half of the 2019 planned 195 000-m drilling programme

De Beers Group is investing US$315 000 over three years in programmes that aim to encourage young women to study STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) subjects and to pursue engi- neering careers in South Africa, Namibia and Botswana. Katie Fergusson, Senior Vice-President Social Impact, De Beers Group, said:“With a global shortage of engineers, and women representing only 11 per cent of the engi- neering workforce, attracting more young women into engineering is vital. In our fast-changing world, we need diversity of thought to find new solutions, so we are therefore thrilled to be able to partner with WomEng and play a role in supporting the next generation of talented engineers who will play a critical role in shaping the future.” The programme, in partnership with De

Endeavour extends ‘footprint’ of Kari discoveries Endeavour Mining, listed on the TSX, has announced that an ongoing exploration programme at its Houndé mine in Burkina Faso has significantly extended mineralisa- tion at all three discoveries in the Kari area, boosting confidence that maiden resources will be delineated before year-end.

The Kari anomaly, which now extends over a very large area measuring 6 km long and 3 kmwide, hosts three recent discover- ies (Kari Pump, Kari West and Kari Center) with approximately 25 % of the target still to be drilled. A total of 1 027 holes com-

8  MODERN MINING  July 2019