Capital Equipment News September 2021

OPERATOR TRAINING

To commemorate Women’s Month, Nkwe Platinum Limited and SANY Southern Africa came together to provide an entry- level excavator training programme to six women.

Joint sponsors offer entry-level operator training to six women

Nkwe Platinum Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Zijin Mining Group, and leading original equipment manufacturer SANY Southern Africa, have jointly sponsored an entry-level excavator training programme to six women from the Garatau PlatinumMine’s communities, writes Munesu Shoko .

I n a sector where women con- SANY Southern Africa, seeks to empow- er women by affording them the opportu- nity to tackle tasks that are traditionally regarded as men’s work. Nkwe Platinum Limited is a 74% shareholder of the mining right in respect of the Garatau Platinum Mine, which is situated in the Eastern Limb of the Bushveld Complex in Limpopo Province, South Africa. To commemorate Women’s Month, the companies came together to provide an entry-level excavator training programme to six women from Nkwe Platinum’s mining communities. During the week- stitute just 12% of the 400 000 workforce, the initiative by Nkwe Platinum and leading Chinese original equipment manufacturer

long training programme, the women learnt about basic components and the structure of excavators, and were also afforded the opportunity to perform basic functions of the machine. Speaking to Capital Equipment News , Samuel Zhang, GM of SANY Southern Africa, notes that women are dramatically under-represented in the mining industry. Empowering women with top quality excavator operator skills and training, using state-of-the-art equipment, he says, will give them the competitive edge to advance in the sector. “We are pleased to embark on this training programme with Nkwe Platinum,” says Zhang. “We sourced two experienced trainers and offered a new 36 tonne SY365H Pro excavator for the training programme. We believe

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