Zimbabwe: Lack of Lecturers for Geology, Metallurgy and Mining Engineering

News Day reports that the gold sector in Zimbabwe experiences a shortage of skilled workers. Additionally, Zimbabwe’s training institutions have lost many lecturers in mining related fields. The University of Zimbabwe has now only one geology lecturer.

“The situation is compounded by the fact that our tertiary institutions of training have no personnel to train people for the mining industry and in some cases geology departments have closed down because of lack of trainers. Previously, Zimbabwe used to develop its own skills and we may be forced to now import mining personnel from other countries.” said the second vice-president of the Chamber of Mines of Zimbabwe, Allan Mashingaidze.

In April this year during a University of Zimbabwe fundraising initiative by Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara, UZ Vice-Chancellor Levi Nyagura admitted that the geology and metallurgy departments had literally closed.