Labour

"There are smart people in Mali who don't get the opportunity to extend their knowledge," says Malian student Cheick Ahmadou Tidiane Ba, one of ten student bursars from Mali, expressing his delight at the opportunity for further study. Although the bursary scheme is not new to AngloGold Ashanti, it's the first intake of bursars from the West African country of Mali, where three of the company's mines are situated.

Every year in Mali scholarships are awarded to the top 30 maths and science students. These scholarships are funded either by the Malian, French or Belgian governments - or tertiary institutions - for university studies in either France or Belgium. In 2002, AngloGold Ashanti proposed to its Malian mine business partners that they assist ten students in gaining a mining-related qualification from a South African tertiary education institution. The main aim is to groom talent for localisation of its Mali operations; there are currently 19 expatriates, ten in metallurgical positions and nine in mining positions. In order to build up a localised pool, selected students were given the opportunity to study one of these professions, with a view to taking over completely from ex-pats in the future.

The bursars, aged between 18 and 21, attended eight different high schools in the Bamako, Hippodrome and Mopti areas of Mali. All have attained their Baccalaureat Malian, the French equivalent of the A-level exam, studying as main subjects mathematics, physical science, biology and philosophy.

All ten students have been accepted by the University of Pretoria to study disciplines such as mining engineering, environmental engineering, geology and metallurgy. Their four-year degree courses start at the end of January 2005. In order to encourage the students to remain in the mining industry at the end of their studies, as well as to groom future managers at AngloGold Ashanti's operations as part of its localisation programme, the company has developed incentives in the form of training resources; development through inter-mine exposure; development panel interviews to map out development plans; and regular performance reviews.

Since Mali is French-speaking, a three-month orientation period was provided to improve the students' English skills in preparation for English-instruction lectures at Pretoria University. Even though they had completed a six-month English course before their arrival in South Africa, AngloGold Ashanti felt they would benefit from further coaching in listening, writing, reading, thinking, oral, vocabulary building and research skills. This was provided by the University of the Witwatersrand as part of a bridging course, which also covered aspects of physics, chemistry, mathematics and life skills. In a subsequent Training of English for a Foreign Language (TOEFL) exam, all students exceeded expectations by achieving well above average marks.

The students' first year will be a combination of academic study and practical training. During term time, they'll stay on the university campus, while holiday breaks will be spent gaining underground experience at some of South Africa's deep level mines. The cost per student for one academic year is about R100,000.

The opportunity to pursue a career in the mining industry is limited in Mali and the students know they are some of the privileged few. They are also aware that, since this is a pilot project, the continuation of the programme rests on their success and, as such, they are committed to not only realising the expectations of AngloGold Ashanti, but those of their country. "Our country needs us," says Boubacar Traore, echoing the sentiments of his fellow students, who claim that the Malian gold mining industry bursary programme is an opportunity to empower both them and their people.

AngloGold's operations in Tanzania and Namibia already have bursary schemes in place. Two employees from Geita Gold Mine in Tanzania studied at the University of the Witwatersrand and Rhodes University in 2004. Three Namibians, two males and one female, were awarded bursaries in 2004 to study mining engineering, geology and chemical engineering respectively. Namibia's Navachab Mine is to sponsor a further four students to study at Cape Town University and the University of Pretoria in 2005.