Modern Mining January 2016

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

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. 

Shondoni’s 15 000-ton capacity surface coal

bunker under construction; the design included both precast and in-situ concrete elements.

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