Modern Mining January 2016

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January 2016 MODERN MINING73
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COAL
directly at staff is a home ownership scheme
in eMbalenhle, providing subsidised houses
which employees can invest in and own.”
In line with the emphasis on employ-
ing local residents, over 620 workers of the
approximately 1 800 on site in 2015 were from
the surrounding Govan Mbeki, Dipaliseng and
Lekwa municipalities; less than 60 were not
South African citizens.
Employment at the mine has also favoured
the youth – a social segment particularly
hard-hit by the country’s high unemployment
rate; almost 530 are under the age of 35. As
mining technologies and systems become
more complex, so the skills demanded by
the operation rise steadily. As a result, over
half those on site are classified as skilled,
although the requirement for semi-skilled and
unskilled employees remains – comprising
Shondoni’s 15 000-ton
capacity surface coal
bunker under construction;
the design included both
precast and in-situ concrete
elements.
equal portions of the remaining workers.
Apart from direct jobs maintained by
Middelbult’s transition into Shondoni mine,
the operation will continue to provide busi-
ness for 400 to 500 service providers, said
Louw, making it a vital indirect job-creator
in the region. Emerging businesses are also
given special consideration by the company’s
empowerment policies; of the R5,5 billion
being spent on Shondoni, almost R3 billion
is related to broad-based black economic
empowerment (BBBEE) firms.
As the development of Shondoni moves
towards finalisation in 2016, the range of stake-
holders who have benefitted from Middelbult
will be relieved to see the operation effectively
rejuvenated for the next three decades – as it
continues to supply baseline feed stock for
Sasol Synfuels’ coal-to-liquids operations. 