Chamber of Mines to support UMaT academic work

The Ghana Chamber of Mines (GCM) will from next academic year disburse $442,000 (about GH¢2.417 million) to the University of Mines and Technology (UMaT) to support academic work at the university.

This comes under a five-year $2.2 million Tertiary Education Fund (TEF) programme aimed to support faculty research, post graduate research, teaching and learning and the provision of infrastructure at the university.

The fund would also support technological research and innovations that would directly benefit the mining sector in the country, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the chamber, Mr Sulemanu Koney, has said.

Launch

Speaking at the launch of the TEF in Accra last Wednesday, the CEO indicated that the fund would also cover the bursary of undergraduate students in accordance with industry needs, provision of educational resources, as well as industry internship programmes.

The TEF initiative, he indicated, was born out of the industry’s years of partnership with tertiary institutions, particularly, UMaT, which had seen the creation of the chamber’s Environmental Science Chair at the university.

The university, Mr Koney said, had developed an innovative direct ore smelting method which had created a more sustainable and environmentally friendly way to process ore for small scale operators.

The chamber in its quest for member companies to have the high-quality human resource for the sector and the larger job market, decided to focus on helping the training of high calibre mining professionals who would become the next global leaders in the sustainable exploitation and management of natural resources.

“The sustainability of the mining sector is largely dependent on skills and competencies of those engaged in it and it, therefore, goes without saying that, we need to invest in our tertiary institutions that train manpower for industry,” Mr Koney said.

Participation

The President of the chamber, Mr Eric Asubonteng, pointed out that the fund was to keep the country as a leading mining destination in Africa.

He said requisite skills and building the capacity of young people were key in driving a successful economic development strategy.

“The mining sector is a well-recognised economic activity which requires a focus on skills development, reducing cost of doing business and making available resources businesses need.

The chamber, Mr Asubonteng stressed, would continue to partner the government to provide what he described as broad-based developments within the country.

“As a chamber, we see significant value in collaborating with all stakeholders to deliver on initiatives that would bring development and progress to our host communities and country,” the president underscored.

He challenged the governing council of the TEF to bring their expertise to bear on the fund’s management and disbursement so as to ensure that it served the purpose for which it was created.

Governing Council

The Chairman of the Governing Council of the university, Mr Stephen Ndede, for his part, expressed delight about the programme, saying the image of the industry would plummet if the university continued to reel under infrastructural challenges.