The future of mining lies in good leadership

Effective leadership is key to achieving this goal, as the mining sector remains a critical part of the SA economy contributing, in 2017, 7% to GDP, 27% to total exports, 19% to fixed investment and providing 1,5-million direct and indirect employment opportunities, supporting more than 10-million dependents.

“The need for growing talent and leadership for the South African economy – and the mining sector in particular – is greater than ever before. The disruption that the Fourth Industrial Revolution is causing is significantly affecting 21st century mining, employment and skills," says Professor Fred Cawood, director at the Wits Mining Institute.

He adds that organisational success and sustainability begins or ends with leadership. A leader is inextricably-linked to an organisation’s culture and shapes the leadership team which in turn filters this influence through every area of an organisation, including the performance and productivity of the workforce.

Effective staff engagement

As the South African mining sector is labour intensive, the performance of a mining company depends primarily on the productivity of its workforce.

“Leaders need to be appropriately skilled and empowered to effectively lead the organisation, but just as importantly, they must be able to impact employee performance through effective leadership and staff engagement,” says Cawood.

The institute will be holding a three day seminar entitled Empowering Leaders for 21st Century Mining’, covering important topics relevant to leadership in mining, specifically for women.from 6-8 August 2019.

Three modules will be covered during the three days. The first module introduces 21st Century Mining. The second is Transformation in Mining, in which leaders from industry and business share insights on transformation and leadership. The third module is Leadership for 21st Century Mining, which aims to empower leaders through the tools of self-awareness, personal development, mentoring, coaching, emotional intelligence and networking.

A visit to the Wits Sibanye-Stillwater Digital Mining Laboratory (DigiMine), which is a 24/7, digitally monitored, realistic underground mining environment. There will also be a visit to the exciting Wits Tshimologong Digital Innovation hub in Braamfontein is included in the programme, and attendees are eligible for continuing professional development (CPD) points.

For further information, contact Eunice Sediti at +27 11 717-1188 or Eunice.Sediti@wits.ac.za, or register online.