John Chadwick’s training article to appear in the December issue of International Mining magazine examines in some detail the Murray & Roberts Training Academy (MRTA) at Bentley Park near Carletonville, Gauteng, South Africa, as well as news of new simulators and other technologies. There is still time to contribute.

A 3-D immersive technology headset is the latest addition to the array of learning tools and methodologies in use at the MRTA. According to Tony Pretorius, Education and Training Department (ETD) Executive at Murray & Roberts Cementation, the academy is constantly absorbing the latest techniques to stay at the leading edge of learning performance for the mining sector.

“Our world class educational strategies at MRTA Bentley Park include a range of passive and active learning approaches,” he says, “and the addition of this new technology will once again raise the bar by yielding even better returns on the training investment.”

MRTA Bentley Park services not only Murray & Roberts Cementation’s workforce of over 4,600 employees, but also ‘external’ clients in the mining sector.

In line with its focus on leveraging new technologies for accelerated learning, the academy recently installed Africa’s first virtual reality blast wall with rear-view projection. This offers a 3-D impression of the hard rock blast wall through the wearing of 3-D glasses. The facility provides a much more realistic ‘look and feel’ than previous teaching environments, right down to the sound effects.

The innovations adopted at MRTA Bentley Park go beyond the technical; as part of Murray & Roberts Cementation’s broader social contribution, the academy is also training unemployed members of the communities in which it operates.

“Up to half of our intake comprises unemployed people in our communities, allowing them to take a first step into the workplace, – in mining, construction or engineering,” says Pretorius.

Standards at the facility have always been of a global standard, he says. The academy recently passed its audit by the Mining Qualifications Authority with flying colours, and is currently upgrading from the world-class ISO 9001: 2008 standard to ISO’s new 2015 standard.