Skills needed by engineers in the platinum mining industry in South Africa

The South African platinum mining industry faces continuous challenges in terms of increased global competition, demand for productivity, skills shortages, loss of scarce technical skills due to emigration, strikes and high turnover rates. Hence, the lack of engineering skills (technical and management skills) may seriously hamper the capacity of the mining industry to ensure that productivity and safety standards are maintained. A quantitative study was conducted on skills needed by platinum mining engineers in three provinces in South Africa. A four-point Likert-type scale questionnaire ranging from strongly agree to strongly disagree was developed. The Cronbach's alpha coefficient was above 0.8, indicating high internal reliability. The population consisted of 300 engineers in platinum mines in three provinces in South Africa. A convenience sample was used; 79 engineers volunteered to complete the questionnaire. The response rate was 26.3%. A factor analysis was conducted to determine which skills of the engineers were the main concerns. The results of the study indicated that theoretical knowledge, technical skills, management skills and engineering principles were skills needed for technology-based engineering in the platinum mines under study.