Modern Mining November 2021

Pointers on skills for workplace readiness include supporting community education and skills devel- opment programmes to provide the youth with the skills needed to enter the world of work. The industry should also introduce new learning and development programmes aligned with the new WoW and strategy plans for workplace readiness; calibrate existing skills requirements with the new WoW and partner with training, education and pro- fessional bodies for a just and ethical transition into the new WoW. 

Pointers in terms of health and safety include pre- paring for employee health checks to determine how employees have been affected by the pandemic in terms of wellbeing, mental health and depression. The industry must also have protocols in place for COVID-19 testing, social distancing and quarantining. “The mining industry is accustomed to managing diseases such as malaria, HIV, and Ebola outbreaks in West Africa, so the concept of risk management in an infectious disease environment is not strange to this industry. It is, however, strange to other sectors of the economy that deal with the mining industry,” says Cawood. A pointer in terms of workspace versus work- place is the preparation of connected workspaces allowing workplace staff to work with staff in remote workspaces. “We can only break rock at the mine face, which means there will be people at the rockface while technical teams and other personnel work remotely on the same shift. These teams must find a way to collaborate. “We must promote flexible workspaces as opposed to workplace desks. We must also create virtual teams with more flexible work options and create a ‘workspace mindset’, where work is done from anywhere.”

Key takeaways  This year, the number of issues beyond the industry’s control surpasses those within its control  Other threats in 2021 are illegal mining and black markets, which pose risk for real-time supply chains and cross-border movement  Innovation required at the moment relates to structural changes in the economy  Decarbonisation fell without the control of mining houses a few years ago but has come under companies’ control through lobbying and partnerships  Trends under the future of work include a more crowded world of work, growing youth disillusionment and a growing divide between blue and white-collar workers

November 2021  MODERN MINING  33