Tarkwa — Gold Fields Ghana Limited and its partners on Wednesday inaugurated a state-of-the-art training rig to transform gold production at their training school at the Tarkwa Mine in the Western Region.
The 450,000 euros instrumentation, one of the first in Ghana and Africa and supplied by Automation Solutions Ltd (ASL), subsidiary of The Automation Ghana Group (TAGG), marks another milestone for Gold Fields Ghana in improving professional training, says the Executive Vice President, Gold Fields Ghana and Head of West Africa, Joshua Mortoti.
He described the rig as major investment that would take the skills development of employees a notch higher because it added to the solid technical modules, equipment and infrastructure.
"The rig will offer intensive and practical training to stimulate real world conditions in the process plant in a safe classroom environment. After training with this rig, our instrumentation engineers will be equipped with technical know-how, which will enhance their competence," he stressed.
Mr Mortoti noted that the youth from host communities would not be left out as they would also get the opportunity to be trained on the rig, when Gold Fields Training School launches the instrumentation apprenticeship programme soon.
He added "considering the immense benefits and value of such a high-tech equipment, I can confidently say that spending over 450,000 Euros on this instrumentation rig is worthwhile. We don't hold back when it comes to enhancing the competence or our employees because they are our most valuable asset.
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Mr Mortoti explained that Gold Fields continued to invest significantly in employee training, and that since 2014, the company had invested close to $17 million in competency-enhancement, leadership and professional development.
The programme, he said catered for specific needs of employees to develop individual potentials.
Mr Mortoti commended the engineering and learning development teams for translating this innovation idea into action, and also thanked the suppliers ASL and Endress and Hauser for their valued partnership.
The Chief Executive Officer, TAGG, Kweku Asmah stated that the company's commitment to excellence and dedication to advancing industries like mining, food and beverage, oil and gas, and wastewater, led to the unveiling of the training rig at the Tarkwa Mine.
He said "we stand here not only to unveil a training rig but to celebrate a vision realised through the combined efforts of industry leaders being at the forefront of this monumental event leaders in Ghana's automation industry, with over eight years' service support to the mining sector is tremendous privilege."
The Business Development Manager, Endress+Hauser, Simon Egloff noted that the investment in rig technology was a clear commitment and appreciation to the associates of Goldfields Ghana Limited
