London Mining and GIZ Donate Furniture to St. Joseph Vocational Institute in Lunsar
Lunsar- (21 December 2013)- On 10 December 2013, London Mining Company (LMC) in collaboration with the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) donated 50 sets of chairs and tables and Le 10 million bonus to teachers at the St. Joseph Vocational Institute in Lunsar as part of a joint support to the “Mines to Minds” project. The “Mines to Minds” project is a vocational and technical skills training programme funded by London Mining, GIZ and St. Joseph Institute in Lunsar.
In a statement at the donation ceremony, Edwin Jarfoi, Deputy Manager, Human Resources, London Mining, pledged the company’s full commitment to promoting vocational and technical education and contributing to the Agenda for Prosperity of the Government of Sierra Leone by increasing the pool of qualified labour for the mining and other sectors.
Mr. Jarfoi thanked the St. Joseph Institute for implementing the project. “We are happy to partner with St. Joseph Institute and we appreciate their in-kind contributions to the project,” he said. He also disclosed a teacher training needs assessment has been completed and a service provider will soon be hired to conduct the training exercise.
In her address, the GIZ Advisor Regional Resource Governance in West Africa, Janne Kaiser, said the “Mines to Minds” project contributes to the local content policy as a major priority of the Government of Sierra Leone. “To enable St- Joseph’s to train highly qualified graduates for the labour market; we will upgrade the infrastructural needs of Joseph’s Institute. But the project also has a number of non-visible components such as training of teachers and upgrading of curricular, which are ongoing,” she added.
The Project Manager in his presentation said that the ultimate aim of the project is to upgrade the standard of St. Joseph to National Diploma level, the level at which the courses respond to the direct staff needs of the mining and other industries. He added that, because of budget limitations, the project for now is concentrating on consolidating the National Technical Certificate level, which is an entry requirement for National Diploma. Mr Tamba concluded by saying that with the joining of other partners there would be hope of having the National Diploma courses in the future.
On receiving the 50 sets of seats on behalf of the mining communities for St Joseph Institute, Chief Alfred Kamara of Lunsar Town, expressed his gratitude to LMC and GIZ for the donation. He affirmed his confidence in the project and called on all present to cooperate and exercise patience.
Mr. Sorie Kamara, a staff member of St. Joseph in his vote of thanks said that the October and November bonuses they have received clearly manifest the realities of the project. He further committed the full cooperation of the St. Joseph Staff in implementing the project.
London Mining, GIZ, St. Joseph Vocational Institute in Lunsar early this year signed a cooperation agreement to jointly commit EURO 470,000 to fund skills training programmes aimed at improving the employability of the local community in the mining district of Port Loko. A Functional Adult Literacy programme and a Village Savings and Loans Scheme to empower youths and young adults have been introduced as a major component of the “Minds to Minds” project. The funds are released by the project partners over a period of 18 months, with the first phase of the project ending on 30 September 2014.
About London Mining Plc
London Mining Plc is an expanding producer of high specification iron ore concentrate for the global steel industry and is focused on identifying, developing and operating sustainable mines. It commenced sales from its 100% owned Marampa Mine (London Mining Company) in Sierra Leone in 2012 and expects to reach production capacity of 6.5Mwmt/a in 2014. Marampa has sufficient resources to support a staged expansion to over 10.8Mwmt/a. London Mining Plc also completed bankable feasibility studies outlining plans for a further 20Mwmt/a of iron ore production by developing mines in Greenland and Saudi Arabia. London Mining Plc listed on AIM in London on 6 November 2009. It trades under the symbols LOND.L (Reuters) and LOND LN (Bloomberg). More information about London Mining Plc can be found at www.londonmining.com.
German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ)
The objective of the GIZ natural resource governance project is to support the state, the private sector and civil society of Sierra Leone in creating an enabling environment to ensure that the natural resources are exploited for the benefit of all Sierra Leoneans.
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