S tr a t egic Goal 1 ALLIANCES AND C OLLABORA TION C ONTINUED Engaging with global mining and in v es tment c ommunity T he Miner als C ouncil c ontinued t o meet with int erna tional and local in v es t ors in the sect or and int erna tional or ganisa tions including r a tings agencies t o pr o vide ac cur a t e and r ele v ant inf orma tion on the South A frican mining sect or and t o pr omot e in v es tment In this r ole the Miner als C ouncil is a r eliable sour c e of e xt ensiv e inf orma tion and kno wledge on the c ountry s mining indus try and is w ellpositioned t o pr o vide global and local in v es t or c ommunities with vital insight on na tional tr ends r ele v ant c ont e xt and polic y Skills De v elopment T he Skills De v elopment discipline participa t es in se v er al f orums tha t engage on critical skills de v elopment and human capital ma tt ers in c ollabor a tion with v arious social partners It also c ollabor a t es with member c ompanies on a number of joint initia tiv es In c ollabor a ting with the member c ompanies the Skills De v elopment department has de v eloped a f e w tr aining pr ogr ammes tha t ar e generic acr os s the member c ompanies f or e x ample c on v e y or belt oper a t or tr aining and pump a tt endant tr aining and ha v e made these a v ailable t o c ompanies f or tr aining purposes a t no c os t It is the int ention of the Skills De v elopment department t o c ontinue with this type of c ollabor a tion with the member c ompanies during 20 20 T his initia tiv e is important t o the c ompanies because these jobs do not ha v e a f ormal curriculum fr ame w ork tha t has been de v eloped b y the MQA or QCT O and henc e ar e not s tandar dised acr os s c ompanies T hr ough c ollabor a tion the int erv ention allo w s f or the c ompanies t o ha v e ac c es s t o curr ent and s tandar d tr aining ma t erials In r ealising the importanc e of pr oducing univ ersity gr adua t es of highle v el t echnical skills thr ough appr opria t ely qualifed academic s taf in Mining Metallur gical Engineering Geological Scienc es the S k i l l s D e v e l o p m e n t department has closely aligned with the Miner als E duca tion T rus t Fund METF T he METF is funded thr ough the c ontributions of mining c ompanies man y of which ar e Miner als C ouncil members T he c ontribution fr om these c ompanies is mor e than R40 million per annum T he METF is primarily f ocused on the sub v ention of salaries f or lectur ers a t ins titutions a ttr acting r etaining and de v eloping under gr adua t e t eaching s taf supporting academic c entr es of e x c ellenc e the deliv ery of quality educa tion a t ins titutions and f os t ering c ollabor a tion betw een indus try and academic ins titutions T he Miner als C ouncil c ollabor a t ed with the MQA on a number of indus try r ele v ant r esear ch pr ogr ammes during 20 19 T hese included R esear ch int o the skills de v elopment support f or e x mine w ork ers in the miner als and mining sect or T he r esear ch s tart ed in 20 19 and is set t o c onclude in 20 20 T he purpose of the r esear ch is t o asc ertain the impact of skills de v elopment support initia tiv es tha t w er e of er ed t o e x mine w ork ers T he r esear ch will as ses s the socioec onomic changes within the liv es of e x mine w ork ers pos tskills de v elopment and the pos sibility of them ent ering the mains tr eam ec onom y thr ough self emplo yment or r eemplo yment in other sect ors T ogether with the Mandela Mining Pr ecinct r esear ch has been c ommis sioned t o unders tand the impact of changing t echnologies and its skills de v elopment implica tions f or the mining sect or T he int ention w ould be t o int egr a t e these fndings int o a people c entr ed appr oach t o w ar ds the modernisa tion of mining T he Skills De v elopment discipline w as also a k e y r olepla y er in and c ontribut or t o the educa tion and skills w orks tr eam within the 20 19 Job Summit Siban y eS tillw a t er S A PGM oper a tions P age 60