Industry intelligence
Signing the partnership agreement
at the event were Wits University
vice-chancellor and principal,
Adam Habib (left), and Gold Fields
CEO, Nick Holland.
Gold Fields and Johannesburg-based Wits
University have signed a three-year partnership
agreement worth R6-million to further the
academic knowledge of mechanised mining
and rock engineering in South Africa.
The partnership between Gold Fields
and Wits University’s School of Mining
Engineering and the Wits Mining Institute
was recently signed by Gold Fields CEO,
Nick Holland, and Wits vice-chancellor and
principal, Professor Adam Habib.
According to Holland, the funding
seeks to fill the gap of mechanised mining
[6] MINING MIRROR FEBRUARY 2018
skills in South Africa, with the company
managing the country’s largest and deepest
underground mechanised gold mine,
South Deep. “The skills and expertise
required to bring South Deep — with an
expected life of over 70 years — to full
production are not in abundant supply in
South Africa.
“With the Mining School’s long history
of research-intensive higher education and
the more recently launched Wits Mining
Institute with its focus on digital mining, it
made for a natural partnership,” says Holland.
“Both Gold Fields and Wits University
want to collaborate in developing young
professionals with the knowledge and skills
required to support mechanised, deep-
level gold mining. Through this we can
undoubtedly assist the mining industry in
general and play our part in bringing South
Deep to full production,” adds Habib.
As part of the partnership, Gold Fields
has been granted naming rights for the
Genmin Laboratories building on the Wits
Campus, which will now be known as the
Gold Fields Laboratories building.
R6m boost for mechanisation