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January - February 2015
MODERN QUARRYING
19
AT THE QUARRY FACE
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).
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