Dual-listed Orion Minerals has commissioned introductory mining familiarisation short courses within the Siyathemba municipality, in the Northern Cape, in line with its commitment to ensuring local communities’ benefit from its ventures.

The programme is aimed at raising public awareness of the mining industry and the opportunities that the industry creates, ahead of the planned development by Orion of its Prieska zinc/copper project.

The courses, on offer to members of the public and free of charge, have been running since April and will continue until June.

Participants are being provided with an overview of minerals mined in South Africa, an insight into how mining operations are conducted, an understanding of the career options available within the mining industry and a visit to the Prieska project, where participants get to witness first-hand the early phases of a mine development project.

Orion is currently in the advanced stages of completing a bankable feasibility study (BFS) on the Prieska project.

A recently-completed scoping study indicates that the planned Prieska operations could be in production by 2022, processing 2.4-million tonnes a year of run-of-mine material and having a skilled workforce of 850 persons.

“While we advance our BFS and put funding in place for project development, we wanted to start preparing the community to be able to leverage off the numerous opportunities mining ventures can bring,” Orion COO Walter Shamu said in a statement on Monday.

He highlighted that the Siyathemba community has considerable interest in the Prieska project and that the community is “eager to understand [the] business and how best [Orion and the community] can collaborate for mutual benefit”.

This is how the week-long training courses, which are held at Prieska, Marydale and Niekerkshoop, came to be, for those residents who have completed their grade 12 and have an interest in mining.

The programme has, to date, been successfully completed by 158 participants, with the total number registered for the first programme being 400. Participants also earn accreditation towards industry-recognised mining-related qualifications.

“This is one of many initiatives we have [started] in our effort to prepare the Siyathemba community for impending developments. We have already signed a collaboration agreement with the local municipality and are [therefore] looking to promote more pre-emptive development projects with the support of local government, residents and businesses,” Shamu said.