News

In addition to the Emerging Leaders in African Mining program and the Philippines workshop, IM4DC’s strong start to its 2014 program has included five other courses and workshops in Africa and Australia:

• Geographical Information Systems – Lusaka, Zambia
• Regional Development in Resource Regions – Perth, Western Australia
• Mining Tax Administraion and Collection Frameworks – Johannesburg, South Africa
• Environmental Management in Mining – Brisbane, Queensland
• Precompetitive Geoscience in Africa.

These events are summarised below:

Geographical Information Systems course

In January and February 2014, a group of 25 participants from 11 countries in Africa participated in this IM4DC course in Lusaka, Zambia, focused on practical and effective integration of geoscience, geographical and cadastral data in GIS systems. 

Held in collaboration with The University of Zambia’s School of Mines, a partner in several IM4DC actvities over the last twelve months, the program was aimed at mid-level African government officers working with GIS in the resource industry and academics in universities with a GIS in mining focus.

The program addressed the introduction and review of GIS in geology and environmental science, geographic analysis, remote sensing, spatial statistics and storage, and GIS (geology) data standards.

Read more about the program here:

https://im4dc.org/geographical-information-systems-course-in-zambia-open-for-applications/

Short course on Regional Development for Resource Regions

A four-week short course in Perth and regional Western Australia, focused on Regional Development for Resource Regions was presented by IM4DC in February 2014.

The program focused on how developing areas can enhance the economic and social benefits from mining. It gave explicit consideration to regional investment, employment generation, enterprise development, local firm integration into resource projects, infrastructure and service development, landholders management and regional governance. 

The course, hosted in collaboration with the School of Earth and Environment at The University of Western Australia (UWA), is the third in this series to be held. Previous courses have been presented in Western Australia and Ghana. 

One week of the program consisted of field trips to mine sites in Kalgoorlie and the South-West, with the case studies presented throughout. Participants were also introduced to various mining databases and utilities statistics. 

Read more about the program here:

https://im4dc.org/australian-short-course-on-regional-development-for-resource-regions/

Workshop on Mining Tax Administraion and Collection Frameworks

IM4DC collaborated with the World Bank to present a workshop on How to Improve Mining Tax Administraion and Collection Frameworks. This workshop is the first in a series of revenue workshops in Africa. 

The four-day workshop was run in early February 2014 and held in Johannesburg, South Africa. It involved 34 representatives from finance and mining ministries in Southern Afirca. 

The workshop drew upon the findings of a World Bank study conducted in 2012-13 by the Centre for Exploration Targeting (CET) at The University of Western Australia (UWA) and Curtin University. 

Future World Bank-IM4DC workshops will be held in Dar es Salaam in May 2014 and Addis Ababa in September 2014. 

Read more about the program here: 

https://im4dc.org/workshop-on-mining-tax-administration-and-collection-frameworks/

Short course on Environmental Management in Mining

An IM4DC ‘flagship’ short course focused on Environmental Management in Mining was presented in February 2014.

Held in Brisbane, Queensland, 21 participants from 12 countries undertook the course, aimed at developing skills in the assessment and management of environment impacts relevant to minerals and energy extraction and processing industries. 

Aimed at senior government employees who manage environmental impact assessment and management plan processes related to new or existing mining and refining operations, and university researchers and academics who conduct scientific research in the fields of assessing or mitigating the environmental impacts of mining, the course also explored the influence of various stakeholders including regulators, industry groups and local communities, as well as economic considerations on shaping management strategies. 

The four-week course included workshops and lectures at The University of Queensland (UQ), field trips to Queensldand mines sites, and discussions with fellow delegates aimed at equipping participants with the skills required to critically assess mining and refining operations and implement leading practice management approaches to mitigating associated environmental impacts.

Read more about the program here:

https://im4dc.org/short-course-on-environmental-management-in-mining/

Precompetitive Geoscience workshop

A select group of personnel from African geological surveys and cadastral agencies participated in a workshop focusing on cost-effective geoscience. The workshop was presented by IM4DC at the Australia Lounge at the African Mining Indaba conference in February 2014.

The workshop informed attendees of the datasets that are necessary pre-cursors to stimulate mineral exploration. Presentations were made on four themes:

• Geology – Dr Vaclav Metelka, a member of the West African Exploration Initiative team, and the Centre of Exploration Targeting (CET), The University of Western Australia(UWA)
• Geophysics – Dr Chris Wijns, Chief Geophysicist of First Quantum Minerals
• Geochemistry – Greg Hall, from Golden Phoenix International
• Delivery modes – Joshua T Tuhumwire, former commissioner of the Geological Survey and Mines Department, Uganda.