Company encourages youth to go for mining jobs
May 14 2008 12:03:33:567PM  - (SA)  

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The Burnstone Gold Mine opened near Balfour in Mpumalanga in July last year, but local residents lacked the technical skills needed at the mine, while school leavers didn’t qualify for bursaries that were on offer.

Now the mining company Great Basin Gold has decided to invest in the local community, starting at school level, said the company’s investor relations officer, Tsholo Serunye.

She said the company entered a private public partnership with the Thuthuka Upliftment project and the Mpumalanga Department of Education to promote Maths, Science, English, Accounting and Life Orientation at local schools. She said these subjects would help more school leavers to enter the engineering, accounting and financial fields.

The Great Basin Gold Dipaleseng Thuthuka Project will be rolled out at six schools in the Dipaleseng Municipality, which sits in Balfour. Both pupils and teachers will be given support. She said teachers would be given on-going support and mentorship to teach their subjects more effectively and identify pupils with potential. Pupils with an aptitude for the subjects will be encouraged to choose accountancy, science and engineering as careers and to apply for bursaries to study further.

The Great Basin Gold Dipaleseng Thuthuka Project will be officially introduced under the theme Developing Education - Creating a Future on 15 May at the Siyathemba multipurpose centre in Siyathemba outside Balfour. – BuaNews

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