SA skills shortage, a major spanner in the works for country’s mining projects

During this year’s Mining Indaba in Cape Town, participants were informed about a critical challenge facing the industry: a notable shortage of skilled workers. This deficiency has been identified as a major obstacle hampering the sector’s performance.

And while some international mining companies are attempting to address this challenge by promoting local skills development, a significant barrier lies in the fact that only 4.5% of South African miners have completed high school, limiting their access to Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges where artisan skills are taught.

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Global mining market

This skills gaps, says Dr Corrin Varady – CEO of IDEA, a Digital Education platform, is also hampering South Africa’s competitiveness in the global mining market.

“[Regions] like Australia, Europe, America, Russia, India, and Brazil are investing in South Africa’s mining sector, but the lack of skilled workers may prompt investors to explore other regions,” he said.

But according to a Mckinsley study, mining companies worldwide are experiencing a talent squeeze: 71% of mining leaders are finding the talent shortage is holding them back from delivering on production targets and strategic objectives.

“86% of mining executives tell us it is harder to recruit and retain the talent they need versus two years ago — particularly in specialised fields such as mine planning, process engineering, and digital (data science and auto­mation). We expect this trend to continue,” the company said.

There are a number of projects in the country that are being delayed as a result of the lack of skilled workers.

Project delays

This is particularly bad news for South Africa which is exploring different projects to generate more (and cleaner) forms of energy in the face of its energy crisis.

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Seriti Green, is building Africa’s largest wind farm in Mpumalanga, which will generate 155MW of power – but according to its CEO Peter Venn, one of the delays in moving the project along quickly is the critical shortage of skills in renewables, he told the Daily Maverick.

Dr Varady emphasises the need to improve the quality of basic education to boost high school completion rates and facilitate skills acquisition. He suggests that rethinking how the curriculum is delivered could be key to addressing the skills shortage effectively.

Auditing firm, PwC, on the other hand, suggested in its Mine 2023: The era of reinvention report, that the top mining firms in the country relook at their strategies to attract the youth to pursue careers in the field.

In his address at the Mining Indaba, President Cyril Ramaphosa highlighted several hurdles hindering the performance of the mining sector. He acknowledged that energy shortages and transportation bottlenecks were of critical concern as well.