AngloGold Ashanti and ECA work to improve mining skills in Africa

Accra, Oct. 31, GNA – AngloGold Ashanti and Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) has launched a programme dubbed the “African Mining Skills Initiative” (AMSI) to address the skills deficiency facing the mining sector.     The initiative, which was launched at the end of the Eighth African Development Forum in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, aims at reducing Africa’s shortage of skills and providing human resources required to adequately support the mining and mineral sector to speed up Africa’s development and growth opportunities.     A statement to the Ghana News Agency in Accra on Wednesday said: “The mining sector in Africa is booming, but the continent’s educational institutions are not currently in a position to meet this growing demand for a broad range of skills”.       It added that there was the need to meet the needs of African governments and helping civil society and the private sector to grow, hence it was imperative to increase the number of Africans with minerals skills.       It said to meet the needs of governments, civil society and the private sector, a drastic increase in the number of Africans with ‘minerals skills’ was needed    The statement underscored the importance of the AMSI in establishing the required partnerships in the mining industry and strengthening the human and institutional capacities in the African mining sector, emphasizing, “Creating these capacities would strengthen Africa’s bargaining power.”     It said, “Africa needs to participate more effectively in the minerals value chain”, adding, “this would lead to inclusive growth and economic transformation that address vulnerabilities”.     The statement explained that the complex world of the future requires moving beyond recognizing minerals skills as being engineering and geology, but appreciate that the modern minerals sector requires competency in areas such as strategic planning, law, finance, fiscal policy, environment, community affairs and human rights.     It is in this vein the AMSI aims to focus on broad skills development in Africa in relation to the minerals sector taking a holistic view of skills and institution building for the minerals industry, the statement said.   GNA ... Read Full Story