While infrastructure opportunities in the public sector are still limited by constrained government finances, the mining sector is drawing consulting engineers into a range of construction work to expand production.
According to Steve Bartels, partner and principal engineering technologist at SRK Consulting, the platinum industry is among the segments that have survived the challenges of 2020 well, creating much-needed demand for local consulting engineering skills.
”It is vital that the economy grows to accommodate not only the existing capacity among consulting engineers, but also the new entrants to the sector," said Bartels. "Companies like SRK prioritise the nurturing and development of young talent, and these young engineers need to be working on projects to gain experience."
Despite the dampening effect of COVlD-19 lockdowns on the economy, mining added over R360-billion to South Africa‘s gross domestic product in 2020, according to the Minerals Council South Africa.
The platinum sector - while volatile clue to COVlD-19 related disruption - saw its sales increase 40% even though production dropped by 15%, according to Statistics South Africa. Stats SA also reported that sales of platinum group metals, at R190-billion, overtook those of coal to become the most significant contributor to total mining-industry sales last year.
