Miners and mining  companies who have established  environmentally  friendly operations and invested in the technology and equipment that will improve mineral recovery,  and who are ensuring the proper profiling and restoration of mined-out areas are  “good miners”,  worthy of emulation.
So says Chairman of the Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) Ronald Webster.
He made the assertion during comments to mark the observance of Mining Week 2010.
In an overview of the sector, Webster noted that it impacts on all sectors of the economy.
Impacts, he said, ranging from the development of interior roads which provide improved and faster access to interior communities, to the local fabrication of equipment and the requirement of a wide range of goods and services needed to support the industry and the people in it.
He said he estimated that support services provide indirect employment more than six times that of the direct employment in the actual mining camps.
He said the mining industry is buoyant and its future appears promising, adding that a number of new opportunities in manganese, bauxite, gold, uranium and other minerals could well become operational realities within the next five years.
He stressed that against this background, the industry needs engineers including mining and chemical engineers, trained managers and heavy equipment maintenance technicians.
He urged young people entering University to seriously consider making a career in mining rather than following the traditional academic stream.
The GGMC is facilitating this by funding scholarships and special training programmes.
He advised miners and mining companies that with gold prices remaining buoyant, now  was the time to invest in the equipment needed to improve gold recovery and reduce operating cost.
He commended miners and mining companies who are striving to meet the required standards.
He said it was important that there be a collective responsibility across the industry to this end.
“This should be a matter of individual pride of achievement – not just to avoid closure by the GGMC.”
He stressed, “There will be many challenges facing the mining sector in the future, but the greatest challenge and reward would be for the industry  to project an image of quality and efficiency that other countries would wish to emulate.”