Mining & Trade News

As the Government is promoting the minerals sector with several large-scale mines expected to roll out in the short to medium term, stakeholders in the mineral sector have expressed concern over shortage of skilled personnel in the country to work in the mines.

Several companies are expected to open mines in Malawi including ASX-listed Lotus Resources which is expected to start extracting uranium at Kayelekera in Karonga this month; ASX-listed Sovereign Metals undertaking feasibility studies to mine rutile and graphite at Kasiya in Lilongwe, ASX-listed Globe Metals & Mining to mine niobium and tantalum at Kanyika in Mzimba, Canada-listed Mkango Resources working on front-end engineering studies for rare earth mining at Songwe Hill in Phalombe, and ASX-listed Lindian Resources working to commence rare earth mining at Kangankunde in Balaka.

The Ministry of Mining introduced a number of mining related disciplines in the country’s tertiary institutions under the phased-out World Bank and European Union financed Mining Governance and Growth Support Project.

But Consulting Geoscientist Ignatius Kamwanje told Mining and Trade Review that despite the universities offering mining related programs, there are not enough to supply the medium and large-scale mines expected to come on stream.

Kamwanje said: “There are some universities that are offering geology and other mining related courses and this is a good gesture for the country.”

“However, there is really a shortage of labour force in the industry because many graduates lack practical experience which is exacerbated by the laxity of the industry to recognize fresh graduates, lack of extensive recognition of the roles of these personnel in the industry, and inadequate tailor-made courses to provide mining solutions.”

“It is my anticipation that these medium to large scale mines will absorb the labour force possibly as management trainees, geology/ mining professionals and also skilled plus semi-skilled labour with experience in mine environments and on the job training.”

“I still foresee expatriates dominating high ranking positions but the government should spearhead localization of the labour force.”

He further explained the need for the government to do screening of expatriates to ensure that only positions that are crucial and challenging are occupied by expatriates leaving others to locals.

Commenting on the development, Coordinator for Chamber of Mines and Energy Grain Malunga said there are higher chances that expatriates will dominate the positions if the government does not address the needs of the industry.

Malunga said: “Expatriates will dominate the mining sector if we continue to educate our youth without addressing the needs of the mining industry.

“Expatriate jobs must be strictly monitored to have relevant local professionals understudying them.”

Through various platforms, stakeholders including Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) have been advocating for increased participation of locals in mineral sector projects including recruitment of locals in high ranking positions in mining firms.

Coordinator for Natural Resources Justice Network (NRJN) Kennedy Rashid emphasized the need to address the gap between academic training and practical experience as well as industrial demands of modern mining.

Rashid said: “I must point out that Malawi is not yet fully prepared to supply a sufficient and adequately skilled labour force for the oncoming wave of medium and large-scale mining operations.”

“While it is true that universities such as the Malawi University of Science and Technology (MUST) and the University of Malawi (UNIMA) offer mining-related programs, there remains a significant gap between academic training and the practical, industrial demands of modern mining.”

“Most graduates lack hands-on experience, exposure to advanced mining technologies, and specialized training in areas such as mineral processing, mine engineering, environmental management, and resource economics.”

Rashid said the gap creates a skills mismatch that forces the companies to fill key technical and managerial roles with expatriates.

He also said the dominance of expatriates in high-ranking positions in mining operations in countries like Malawi is often justified on the basis of “limited local capacity,” a claim that persists due to insufficient investment in targeted technical training and weak industry-academia linkages.

“To address this, Malawi must urgently, strengthen technical and vocational training programs tailored for the mining sector.”

“Malawi should also forge partnerships between industry and academia to ensure curricula meet market demands as well as implement policy incentives that require companies to gradually replace expatriates with trained Malawians.”

Rashid also spelt out the need for the establishment of a Mining Skills Development Fund to finance training of youths in mine-related professions to ensure that the country does not risk repeating past patterns where resource wealth fails to translate into meaningful employment for locals.

In many mining projects in Malawi, locals dominate non-skilled jobs with some recruited as interns while expatriates are employed as skilled personnel. The Malawi Government has, meanwhile, indicated that it is planning to establish a University that will concentrate on offering mining related courses.

Minister for Higher Education Jessie Kabwila said the institution will assist the country meet the employment needs of the sector as Malawi is developing mining as one of the key sectors in Malawi 2063 and Agriculture, Tourism, Mining and Manufacturing strategy which is being championed by State President Lazarus Chakwera.

Leave a Comment

Comments