| – More expected as training continues todayNearly two years after the Guyana Mining School hosted its inaugural training,NFL Jerseys Cheap Authentic, more than 400 persons have benefited from training. This number will grow as training commences today.John Applewhite-Hercules, Administrator/Coordinator of the Guyana Mining SchoolThis is according to John Applewhite-Hercules,cheap jerseys, Administrator/Coordinator of the Guyana Mining School and Training Centre. Applewhite-Hercules said that hundreds of persons have benefitted from the six training courses that have been held thus far.According to the coordinator, 397 persons received training from the school in 2014.He added that the courses were open to miners and new entrants to the mining sector. The first training session was held from August 15 to August 19, 2013 and focused on occupational health and safety courses. There were other areas of focus, among them space entry requirement, fall protection, workplace hazards, and transportation of dangerous courses. These areas were taught by the Canadian-based College of the North Atlantic,Wholesale China Jerseys, under contract by the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC).Applewhite-Hercules added that there was a subsequent course which focused on efficient blasting techniques for mining. This course was conducted by the Guyana Mining School in collaboration with the Australian company, Orica Mining Service.The Australian company, he said, was responsible for the marketing and sale of explosives and also provides training to persons who blast in mining operations. In this course, 78 Guyanese received training. They were drawn from a number of Guyanese businesses including BK International, Toolsie Persaud Limited and Troy Resources, and organisations such as the Guyana Defence Force,Discount NFL Jerseys, the University of Guyana and the GGMC were also involved.“Given the fact that Guyana is moving towards large scale mining exercises,NFL Jerseys China, we saw it necessary to have our quarry operators as well as our large scale mining operators trained in blasting courses,” Applewhite-Hercules said.He continued, “It served as a good introduction for persons who wanted to get into blasting.” However, he said, the course was not a complete one and had not completed a field component. This component, along with supervised blasting, is necessary before certification.Continuous trainingIn an attempt to improve the local mining sector, Applewhite-Hercules also said that the mining school is planning to expand its reach across Guyana.According to him, persons trained last year had benefited from training sessions not just in Georgetown but also in Port Kaituma, Mahdia, Bartica and Linden.Applewhite-Hercules said this year the school will expand, for the first time, to Berbice. Training sessions are scheduled to be conducted later this month at the Regional Democratic Council in Fort Wellington, West Berbice.The school is also considering expanding to the Essequibo Coast. However, Applewhite-Hercules said that this is dependent on the availability of the school resources.The school is offering free registration to miners and new entrants. Applewhite-Hercules explained that though there is a cost attached to the training, it is being subsidized by the GGMC.He further said the courses fall within the function of the GGMC in lending assistance to miners. In this form,Cheap Soccer Jerseys 2019, he said, the assistance has taken the form of the provision of training to miners and new entrants.For this year, training commences today and goes until Thursday, March 5. This new course is introductory level training of prospectors for the extractive industry.Applewhite-Hercules explained that the course is an “invaluable” one, and is the 22nd batch of training conducted by the mining school. Topics will include map scale interpretation, GPS and compass navigation, and land application processes, he said.“The course is geared towards explaining to miners and demonstrating to miners how they can use maps…and how they can interpret those maps,” Applewhite-Hercules said.He added that understanding maps is critical for persons as it allows them to prospect better and know where they need to go to mine. He said that in many cases a miner could not identify the very land that had been awarded to him legally.“Learning these skills is beneficial, because miners will find themselves equipped with an invaluable skill. This [map reading] is normally a high cost activity and miners can save themselves a lot of money because normally, they would have to pay someone who can read a map to locate properties,” Applewhite-Hercules said.Registration for this new course is already completed. The course is geared towards 30 persons, though Applewhite-Hercules said, there are in excess of 30 persons who have registered. These persons, he said, are a mixture of males and females and also persons who are already miners and new entrants.Furthermore, this course will be taught by Applewhite-Hercules. “I don’t know how I should evaluate myself, but I would say that I have put my best foot forward and I would have worked hard to ensure that training sessions are done on a regular basis, so that these persons have the skills and tools to make informed decisions as they venture into the high risk activity of mining,” Applewhite-Hercules said.Meanwhile, the school plans to train about 60 persons each month for the rest of the year.“There are many programmes planned but we can only execute once the resources are available. As we gain more staff and we get more resources, then we’ll be able to put more things in place,” Applewhite-Hercules said.The Guyana Mining School was established after mining companies had struggled to acquire skilled workers. The school is geared towards capacity building for the local mining sector. (Desilon Daniels) |
