Modern Quarrying January-February 2015

AT THE QUARRY FACE

group. “The principle of ‘learning for growth’ and the group’s Kambuku philosophy underpins our sustainability. We believe in enriching our team members by ensuring that they have the right skills, knowledge and competencies to reach their potential.” Training programmes are designed to produce sustainable benefits for both PPC and its employ- ees, and through the various PPC academies the group is sustaining skills, while remaining globally competitive. The various academies include: • PPC Operations Academy • PPC Mining Academy • PPC Bridging Skills Programme • PPC Leadership Academy • PPC Technical Skills Academy • Graduate Development Programme • Entrenching Customer Service “This is like a mini-technikon. We believe that the artisan who comes through the FET colleges is not always suitable for our industry, and so we put the same artisans through the academy before we taken them on board. At present we have about 12 learners at the site, and we have graduate pro- grammes that we are running,” Vorster explains. “Matty Mukwevho, who has a BSc (Eng) Mining

Engineering from Wits University, is one example. She is a modest young lady from Limpopo Province, who has had to survive in this culture here. Matty is now in the final year of her graduate programme, and we are very proud of her,”Vorster adds. With over 8,0% of the employees at De Hoek having worked on site for 30 or more years, PPC De Hoek is clearly a happy place to work at. The feeling MQ got from reception right through to top man- agement, is one of positivity and pride of place. Report and photographs, unless otherwise credited, by Dale Kelly

Picture shows the old donkey tethers and water feeder. Donkey carts were used to haul the ore from the old De Hoek pit (courtesy PPC De Hoek).

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MODERN QUARRYING

January - February 2015