Training and development solutions provider Comodex Consultancy, in partnership with the University of Johannesburg (UJ) Mining Engineering Department, on April 17 hosted the pioneer Mine Mentor MineReady Skills Extravaganza competition.

The competition was held at the Sibanye-Stillwater mine simulacrum facility on UJ’s Doornfontein campus. It aims to prepare students for the real demands of the mining industry, exposing them to safety, pressure, decision-making and execution.

Speaking to Mining Weekly at the event, Comodex MD Tanya Graham explained that the competitors came from Comodex’s Mine Mentor Exchange Programme, where students had been participating for the past few months. Graham was also the founder of this programme.

For the competition, 20 students are divided into four teams, which compete against each other by rotating between different stations in the mock mine, which simulate real-life scenarios.

These include ventilation, load and haul, a temporary support station and a virtual reality blast wall.

Teams are awarded scores for each station, with first, second and third place awards up for grabs. Graham informed that students can benefit from a variety of sponsorship prizes from the different companies participating in the competition.

Graham explained that from the mentor perspective, original-equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and supplying companies that supplied mining houses were brought in to address the lack of exposure that students were currently grappling with, owing to the limited availability of vacation work and graduate programmes, besides others.

“We partner with all these OEMs with their equipment and technologies, and implement it into the mock mine, so that the students can get pre-exposed to these things.

“We strategically look at companies that are willing to support development and new development in the students’ careers, as well as where these students will ultimately move over when they start working in the industry,” she outlined.

Graham said that the partnership with UJ allowed the programme to use the mock mine facility to train students. Moreover, some of the participating companies were assisting with upgrading the site.

The main sponsor for the event was rotary and directional drill rigs manufacturer DESA Drilling and Equipment. Speaking to the publication was DESA director Johan Fourie, who echoed the point about the gap between university education and real-world training.  

“What we’ve found in the industry is that when our graduates, engineers and mining students get into the world of mining, they are still worlds apart from the reality of what’s happening in the mining sector.

“When we get these graduates from the university, when they are going into the mining environment, they still lack a lot of skill and a lot of knowledge. For us, it’s to bring them in and provide them with that exposure,” he pointed out.

Fourie highlighted this as an ideal opportunity to bring students and companies together. “This allows us to coach the future of the country in taking the right decisions; and for them to understand what they are studying, what they are doing, and what they are going to contribute to the future of mining,” he averred.  

DESA will also look to bolster its involvement by allowing students to visit its workshops and providing more underground exposure for them as well.

Graham called for more mining industry companies to come on board and participate in initiatives, including providing site visits, financial support, equipment demos, workshop partnerships and others.