Accra — THE Vice-Chancellor of the University for Mines and Technology (UMAT), Prof. Jerry Samuel Kuma, has appealed to Sandvik Mining Ghana to avail, its cutting technology and equipment to the university to help train the country’s small-scale miners.

He said the miners needed training as the havoc they wreaked on the environment through crude mining methods posed such serious danger that the urgency of reversing the situation was now.

According to him, the support of the Swedish industrial giant, UMAT would be able to train the miners to operate in environmentally sustainable way.

He said he appealed specifically to Sandvik Mining because in his view, the company was among the best in the sector.

He catalogued the support health and educational institutions in Tarkwa received from Sandvik in the past and said the appeal was deeply rooted in the track record of the company.

The operations of small scale miners and their concomitant devastating impact on the environment and sustainable livelihood, he said, made tackling it a critical matter for the university whose mandate includes training engineers for the mining industry.

“The fact of the matter is that some of our legal small scale miners are also not trained on environmental issues – how to safeguard the environment [in the process of mining].

“We have therefore proactively engaged the small scale miners association in a bid to give them training so that they will be able to do their mining in a more environmentally friendly manner,” he said.

UMAT, he insisted, produces some of the best engineers on the African continent.

“Our students stand should-to-shoulder with other students the world over,” he bragged.

The Sales Area Manager and Managing Director for West Africa Sandvik Mining, Nuhu Salifu, reminded the students that analytical skills were key to their future endeavors.

“One of the basic skills every student must have is communication skills but unfortunately it is one of the things our engineer friends do not take too seriously. Beyond the engineering skills that you have, there are certain skills that you need which will complement your overall skills,” he said.         BY MASAHUDU KUNATEH