Mining firms grapple with technical talent shortage
What you need to know:
A set of specific and technical skills set is required in every stage of mining process, from prospecting, exploration, project development and actual mining demanding geology, mining and mineral processing experts.
The few professions trained in mining and related engineering fields lack hands-on experience as the country approaches a high activity period of coal, mineral sands and oil mining.
To effectively carry out technical operations mining companies have recruited expatriates as they start exploiting recently discovered minerals.
Base Titanium has recruited 52 of its employees from other parts of the world with 15 to 20 years of experience in the mineral sands industry.
“There just isn’t the depth of experience available in the Kenyan labour market to match this at this stage,” said Simon Wall, Base Titanium external affairs manager.
For the local employees at the mining plant, the company has embarked on regular intensive training of its staff to boost mining operations. For instance, in May, Base Titanium conducted 19 training courses.
“There is a limited number of local experts with the experience required for senior operational roles, which is not surprising given that Base is the first major mining operation in the country. The local graduates lack practical work experience,” said Mr Wall.
Tullow Oil Company has gone through a similar challenge in scouting for trained and experienced experts in geo-technology, seismic and well engineering.
The latest successive fruitful find by Tullow Oil estimates that Lokichar basin could have as much as one billion barrels of oil deposits and more discoveries are in the offing following a plan to drill 20 more wells in other oil blocks in the next two years.
However, other mineral resources could easily surpass the oil discovery.
Multi-billion-shilling coal deposits in Kwale and Kitui counties are envisaged to help bridge the country’s energy deficit.
Gold deposits in Kilimapesa fields in Migori County and the vast Kwale mineral sands mine south of Mombasa have also contributed to the change in face of a country once only known for limited commercial exploitation of its minerals.
A set of specific and technical skills set is required in every stage of mining process, from prospecting, exploration, project development and actual mining demanding geology, mining and mineral processing experts.
In oil exploration a variety of skills are required too. For instance, a petroleum and reservoir engineer, logging and drilling fluid engineer, mud logger are required to inspect and test drilling fluid and a reservoir engineer is required to determine the size and shape of a well.
Inadequate human resource capacity remains a huge setback in the country’s mineral and oil exploration as well as exploitation endeavours.
And the few professions trained in mining and related engineering fields lack hands-on experience as the country approaches a high activity period of coal, mineral sands and oil mining.
“Given that developing oil resources is a long-term venture, as well as the potential for more oil resources being discovered in the region, there is time for the country to develop the necessary skills base for it to become a human resource hub for the region,” said Mercy Kabangi, Tullow Oil senior communications adviser.
The mining sector is not the only industry in Kenya that has had to deal with a shortage of experts. When Safaricom was starting up, it proved hard for the company to get mobile IT engineers — there were no universities providing such training.
To counter the problem, the company recruited fixed line engineers from Telkom Kenya and had them trained by Vodafone in South Africa.
They, however, only managed to train a few, and to widen the pool, they partnered with Seven Seas Technologies, a local IT firm.
Later, after the advent of the mobile money transfer platform, M-Pesa, Safaricom partnered with Strathmore University to train app developers.
Companies like Base Titanium have borrowed a leaf from Safaricom. Besides partnering with Technical University of Mombasa, the company regularly holds special training sessions for its employees.
Mr Wall says that expatriate workers spend a considerable amount of time training their Kenyan counterparts with the view of having them take on more specialised roles within two to five years.
The company has also developed a succession planning programme, whereby the majority of expatriate workers have identified a Kenyan successor, with whom they closely work to facilitate a smooth transition in the role.
On the other hand, Tullow Oil occasionally offers scholarships to talented graduates to pursue post-graduate certification in oil and gas related fields, with partner universities besides training its employees.
Recently, through the Tullow Group scholarship scheme, the company sponsored personnel from three local universities to attend a curriculum development seminar in London, where they interacted with seasoned oil professionals and learnt more about the industry’s needs.
Technical University of Mombasa is also developing programmes in energy technology, nuclear energy, naval architecture, oil and gas sciences, and marine sciences in partnership with universities from Europe and Asia in the hope of equipping students with skills for extracting minerals — both onshore and offshore.
A few years ago, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology started offering mining and mineral engineering courses while the University of Nairobi remains the only institution of higher education in Kenya that offers master’s degree in geology.
Besides growing the number of mining and mineral resources experts, substantial investment needs to go towards training professionals who will ensure that the environment is well rehabilitated because mining bears great potential for widespread pollution of underground and surface water.
