โฆImplores young people to get involved in mining to secure the countryโs future
Copperbelt University Vice-Chancellor Prof. Imasiku Nyambe has said that university mining curricula and teaching need to change to respond to todayโs mining industry needs.
Speaking at a Public Discussion Forum hosted by the News Diggers in Kitwe Monday evening, Nyambe pointed out that Zambian universities had a problem in that they still used the old curriculum to prepare the young minds who would be looking at how to extract the country’s remaining mining reserves from the ground, many times deeper than before.
โDo I have to teach my students the same way we taught the old miners? No. We now have to seek new curriculum, new programs that when you teach somebody, he can fit in that place,โ the professor.
He said relying on antiquated teaching methods may be contributing to young peopleโs employment challenges because โwe have not very quickly included the new things in our teachingโ.
Nyambe, a geologist, said the two public universitiesโCBU and UNZAโneed a new mining curriculum that includes automation, robotics, and big data.
โYou have to analyze that data, so software and artificial intelligence are needed. All these are the tools that have to be incorporated into looking for new reserves so new technologies in mining are very important,โ he stated.
He said that research was also very important to the future of mining, and young people should research the various aspects of mining to respond to the needs of industry.
He said that as mining goes deeper, challenges arise. These include finding ways to extract and bring the ore up from the ground and ventilation to send air below to help the miners underground.
โDewatering becomes a problem and the lower you go, the hotter it becomes. It means you have a number of problems including equipment breaking down so you may not be able to use the equipment. The cost of moving that copper from where it is. It is also expensive and, therefore, the curriculum at the university must change.โ
Nyambe noted that the current government has shown immense political will to include young people in key economic sectors, such as mining, as a way of shaping the countryโs future.
โOur concern as universities, including the University of Zambia, is how do we get the young people to move into mining and start to control the resources?โ, he queried.
He has challenged young people in the country to seize the opportunity presented to them by the New Dawn government to join the mining sector by enrolling in mining-related academic programs. He underscored the governmentโs massive investment injection into the geological exploration of Zambiaโs still-to-be-determined minerals as an indication of its ambitions to expand the mining sector and open up more opportunities for young people.
