Modern Mining June 2015

MINING News

Canadian accolade for Hatch Goba Chairman

Hatch Goba Chairman Trueman Goba received theMcMaster University Faculty of Engineering Leadership Award at its annual Applause and Accolades Awards Gala in Hamilton, Ontario in Canada on 7 May 2015. The Leadership Award was established in 2004 to recognise an outstanding citizen who has contributed to engineering, McMaster University and the community of Ontario. The university’s Engineering Faculty is rated among the best in the world. Goba has been instrumental in forging a successful relation- ship between McMaster Engineering and the University of KwaZulu-Natal. The latest recognition for Hatch Goba’s Chairman follows the presentation of the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award for Excellence in Engineering at the inaugural South African Professional Services Awards (SAPSA) ceremony held in Johannesburg on 30 October 2014. Here Goba was deemed overall winner in a category with numerous high-profile nomi- nees by a distinguished panel of judges who reviewed media reports, technical awards, cli- ent surveys and organisation profiles before reaching their final decision. Goba was born in Chesterville, South Africa. He began his career as a survey technician and LSE-listed Acacia Mining reports that its North Mara gold mine has been named as the over- all winner of the 2014 Presidential Awards for Corporate Social Responsibility and Empowerment (CSRE) in Tanzania. In addi- tion to being named as the overall winner, North Mara was also awarded the large scale mining CSRE Presidential Award. Another Acacia mine, Buzwagi, was awarded the CSRE Presidential Award for Infrastructure as a result of its investment in improving the road network close to the mine. The awards are part of a programme jointly run by the Tanzanian Ministry of Energy and Minerals and the Extractive Inter-Stakeholders Forum and were launched in 2012 to recognise the CSR performance of companies operating in the extractive sector. Potential award recipients are judged by an independent panel of judges who travel to each of the sites to adjudicate participating operations on their commitment to sustain- able community wellbeing, human resource

Hatch Goba Chairman Trueman Goba at McMaster University in Canada. went on to graduate with a BSc Eng and aMEng (Civil). In 2001, Goba’s company GMA merged with Keeve Steyn to form Goba (Pty) Ltd, which merged with the Hatch Group in 2013. Goba was President of the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA) from 2007 to 2009 and also President of the South African Institution of Civil Engineers (SAICE) in 2002. In 2010, he was appointed to the first National Planning Commission and was awarded a Gold Medal by the SAICE in 2013. 

Acacia’s Tanzanian gold mines win awards development and training, local industry par- ticipation, social infrastructure contributions and the integration of the energy andminerals sector with other areas of the economy.

Commenting on the awards, Acacia CEO Brad Gordon said: “We are delighted that North Mara has been recognised as having the leading CSR programme of any extractive operation in Tanzania in 2014. Improving our relationships with the communities around our mines has been a key focus for Acacia, and these awards highlight the progress we have made to date and are testament to the efforts of the leadership teams at the mines. We believe all of our stakeholders should benefit from our operations and will continue to work with the communities around all of our mines to provide further opportunities for alternative livelihoods and infrastructure improvements.” Acacia is Tanzania’s largest gold miner and has three producing mines, Bulyanhulu, Buzwagi and North Mara, all located in north- west Tanzania. 

June 2015  MODERN MINING  7