Africa-Press – Eswatini. Residents of Malindza have been given life-changing opportunities by Magomba Coal Mine, which has disclosed that it has injected about E200 million into a mining project that will provide employment opportunities.
The mine says it has about 1 000 jobs for residents of Malindza and surrounding areas.
This was revealed by Magomba Coal Mine Chief Executive Officer, (CEO) Wandile Hlatshwayo yesterday during a meeting with the residents of the area, whose aim was to sensitise the residents about the project and how they were going to benefit from the project.
The meeting that was attended by the Chairman of the Minerals Mining Board Prince Guduza, Lubombo Regional Administrator Themba Msibi, Dvokodvweni Member of Parliament Sifiso Shabalala, Magomba Coal Mine directors as well as the authorities of the areas, was held at Malindza Royal Kraal. When making his remarks during the meeting Hlatshwayo said the reason they decided to pay the residents of Malindza a courtesy visit was for them to be introduced to the constituents, the Chief and all the authorities of Malindza area as a mine that had been awarded a mining licence to carry out prospecting mining rights of Impaka Mine. He mentioned that it was evident that for them to start operating the mine, they were looking between a E100 and 200 million investment to get the mine up and running. He said they were hoping that such on investment would be in place and intact not later than May this year.
“We obviously do have issues pertaining to environmental studies that precede the mining process. We have got the mining plan and we now have to conduct the secondary feasibility study because we did the initial one, but now, we need to do a much more intensive one that is going to ensure that our mining plans have a bankable approach,” he said.
He said the approach and methodology will be emphasised mostly in the mining plan.
Hlatshwayo said the mining area that they had secured was about 1 600 hectares and the minable area was between 50 and 60 per cent.
He said they were carrying out extensive drillings to make sure that they created much more confidence that indeed they were coming with the metric tonnes that were really on the ground.
He said they were looking up to plus or minus 30 and 40 million tonnes of coals to be mined as per their earlier indicators.
He said cumulatively they were looking at starting with employees ranging between 80 to 100 between this month and March.
However, between May and June, he said they should be sitting at around 600 to 800 employees when the mine would be fully operational.
He said at full operation, they were looking at employing at least 1 000 employees.
He said they were anticipating that it would take them between eight to 10 months to have the mine fully operational.
Hlatshwayo said their approach was that they wanted to do the business in a manner that was in line with the international best practices.
He said they were going to have an all-inclusive approach, when conducting recruitments, which is going to have a measured employment and deployment structure that was going to meet the international standards such as the international organisation standardisation (ISO) standards.
Hlatshwayo said, as such, they were going to employ persons with disabilities while giving priorities to families in as far as the employment process was concerned without, however, exposing the different sectors of society into unfair working condition.
He said they were going to make sure that people were deployed in fair working conditions that were going to ensure that not only did they gain value for working for Magomba Coal Mine, but they also gained value in terms of their own exposure and comfort.
He said what was more exciting about yesterday’s meeting was the realisation of His Majesty’s dream that was also emphasised by Emaswati during the recently held Sibaya that the must be economic vibration and job opportunities in the country.
“So, we are now seeing that dream and vision coming to life, as Magomba Coal Mine, we have the capacity to perform and create that economic vibration that is going to improve the area and the whole country at large. We want to play an active role in improving the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) and also improve the socio-economic status of the people of Malindza and the people of the country at large,” he said.
He mentioned that they affirmed and confirmed to the community that they were looking forward to providing them with a health facility, which will come alongside the mine also providing job opportunities focusing in ensuring that there were skills transfer into the local community.
Hlatshwayo said when it came to the recruitment exercise, they were going to give priority to the local community members and those skills that needed to be procured, will be acquired with the aim of a clear programme of skills transfer.
Raised
When some of the residents raised concerns during the meeting that they were not seeing much improvement in their lives out of all the business facilities that had been previously given opportunities in the area, he confirmed that their social corporate responsibility would make sure that Malindza, Mpaka and surrounding areas in all the Lubombo region would be improved.
He also assured the residents that the expertise that they carried amongst themselves was top notch.
This, he said was because in their own private businesses, they have seen great success, which means that they were coming in with directors that have got a very good profile in business and they will be transferring those skills into the mining sector.
‘Elderly will be taken care of’
Magomba Mine Coal Chief Executive Officer Wandile Hlatshwayo has assured residents of Malindza that the elderly will not be discriminated during the recruitment processes.
This came shortly after one of the residents inquired during the meeting whether or not the elderly above the age of 60 would be considered for employment at the mine, since it was an open secret that nowadays, most job opportunities were reserved for the youth given that it was perceived to be vibrant and energetic.
In response, Hlatshwayo said when it comes to job provision, they will be looking into a wide scope in each category as they will be looking into employing people of different age groups in accordance with the skill sector needed in that category.
“We are not going to discriminate prospective employees in relation to their age groups. It is an undeniable fact that the youth are always given first preference during the recruitment exercise because they are energetic, however, this does not mean that the elderly were not going to be considered for employment at the mine,” he said.
He made an example that when employing a liaison officer, they might consider engaging an elderly person, who was familiar with the leadership structure of the community.
On another note, he assured the residents that they were going to observe all the protocols of Indlunkhulu while also affording the authorities of the area the respect they deserve when executing their duties in the area.
He also mentioned that they would provide mobile clinics that will be used to examine the health condition of those that would be employed at the mine, in a bid to ensure that the residents did not travel long distances when securing medical fitness reports, with which they would be engaged at the mine.
He further assured the residents that for now they were looking forward to constructing a clinic for the mine that will also benefit members of the community but as time goes by, they might consider constructing a huge healthcare centre
He assured vendors who will be interested in plying their trade at the mine that they will not be evicted, but rather a secured space shall be provided for them.
The jobs are real – Prince Guduza
The Chairman of the Minerals Mining Board, Prince Guduza assured Malindza residents that a majority of skilled and unskilled labour force will be sourced from amongst them, as priority will be given to the residents of the area during the recruitment exercise. The prince mentioned that they had been sent by Their Majesties to introduce Magomba Coal Mine representatives to the residents of Malindza.
He pointed out that just recently, they were introducing other mine investors in the same area.
He said this was an indication that the Malindza was rich in minerals.
He mentioned that Magomba Coal Mine will hit the ground running very soon.
The prince said in the interim, the company will wait for the Eswatini Environmental Authority (ETA) personnel to give them the green light to commence with the mining process after a thorough survey, meant to ensure that the environment was not going to be affected by the mine, thus placing the lives of the residents in danger.
He assured the residents that Magomba Coal Mine has guaranteed that a majority of skilled and unskilled labour force will be sourced from amongst the residents, as priority will be given to the residents of the area during the recruitment exercise. The prince further pointed out that as a board, they will monitor the progress of the money from time to time.
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