Building on the depth of mining expertise in West Africa, developed over more than a century of mining in countries like Ghana, the region is needing to foster local skill sets in response to changing standards and requirements both from government and clients.
Among the recent industry benchmarks, for instance, has been the Global Industry Standard on Tailings Management (GISTM) published in 2020. According to Ivan Doku, partner and Ghana country manager for SRK Consulting, the breadth of the GISTM requirements means that many more disciplines now need to be adapted or developed.
"The world's leading mining companies have embraced the GISTM, and have been very busy aligning themselves to the standard," said Doku. "Irrespective of their host nation's legislation, they are working towards standardising their compliance globally - so operations in West Africa are also having to come up to speed."
This is straining the limited global skills pool in tailings management, and more specifically in GISTM compliance. One of the GISTM part of the challenge, he acknowledged, is time. While the basic building blocks of degrees and other qualifications can be earned relatively quickly, it is the gathering of professional experience - with the right quality of mentoring and supervision that takes longer. Standards and regulations may then also demand minimum levels of experience for professionals to act as Engineers of Record.
SRK Consulting South Africa chairman Vis Reddy highlighted that identifying and nurturing local expertise has always been part of SRK's business philosophy - and in fact is built into its business model. The company is owned by its staff , and its country practices also aim for majority ownership and management by local professionals.
