The Ramu Nickel and Cobalt Project in Madang Province by the end of 2021 has employed a total of 1,684 employees of which 85% of the employees are from the project impact communities, 10% from Madang Province and the remaining 5% are from other provinces and abroad with specific expertise with qualifications from recognized institutions.

Training departments on both sites; Kurumbukari Mine in the Usino Bundi District and the Basamuk Refinery in the Rai Coast District of Madang Province have revealed that they have been recruiting local young men and women from villages along the footprint of the Project and these locals are now well trained in areas trained in.

Registered Mine Manager and General Manager of Ramu NiCo’s Kurumbukari Mine, Mr. Joseph Umare said in an interview that the employment opportunities for RNML are given back to the locals as priority.

“Ramu NiCo had been a major contributor of employment to landowners living in the impact areas around the Kurumbukari Basin, especially in the Usino Bundi District and parts of Rai Coast District,” Umare said.

In efforts to nationalize managerial roles, the Project has seen its national and local employees’ successful transition into senior supervisory roles at both the KBK Mine and the BSK Refinery that allows more national employees the opportunity to be leaders and contribute meaningfully to the extractive industry of Papua New Guinea.

During the COVID- 19 period, the Project pushed ahead with its training plans to ensure employees are competent and able to perform their tasks in a safe and productive manner through proper training, which in turn complements the Project’s localization strategy.

Between 2020 and 2021, the project has incurred a total of 71,784.3 man hours of training with three different training categories staged across all sites, namely general workplace training, health and safety training, on-job skills training targeting certain skill areas facilitated by respective departments and third party qualification training for career development of the employees.

A proud local from Mr. Rex Minembo who was part of a group of 22 trainees who were trained to run and operate the Volvo Articulated Dump Truck (ADT A4OE) and work at Kurumbukari Mine in July 2022 said, they were very happy to be accepted by the Company.

Minembo is a classic example of locals recruited under RNML’s Corporate Obligations to localize recruitment and training for youths.

The Ramu Nickel and Cobalt Project views training and development programs essential to the success of business and invests millions of Kina annually for employees’ training programs covering a wide variety of professional fields and trainees including its own employees, contractors and landowners, that ensures employees grow their knowledge base and improve their skills and productivity in the workplace.

Over the past decade, RNML has trained and cultivated more than 1,000 national skilled workers and transmitted many mature talents into the society, making great contribution to the manpower structural escalation of PNG.

Ramu NiCo’s Kurumbukari Mine Deputy Mine Manager, Matthew Francis said that the Company’s main objective now is to increase local knowledge through employment and training to also meet the Company’s corporate obligation through localizing the workforce of the Mine in fields that doesn’t need specific qualifications for locals to take up.

Mr. Francis said, the Mine has been providing employment opportunities to the impact communities for many years.
“These include, assistant plant operators, truck and Volvo Operators as well as others that don’t require them to have specific skills training to apply,” he said.

He said with these internal trainings, it helps these employees to be certified and with their experience working in the plants and as vehicle operators can also be a useful resource for them to get promoted hence have more in their wages to improve their living standards.

“Basically what we are doing at Ramu NiCo is to localize the work force for the locals to be trained and work at the mine in the years to come instead of getting people from other provinces to come and work,” Mr. Francis added.

The Ramu Nickel-Cobalt Project has also generated considerable indirect employment opportunities through its contractors and service providers. Up till now, more than 3,000 additional jobs are provided to locals and nationals through landowner companies and other national contractors to the Ramu Nickel-Cobalt Project.

The approximate percentage of national employees of the Project stands at 84% from the total percentage of employees of national (locals) and Chinese nationals.

Locals were trained to drive ADT at KBK Mine

Local youths during a theory session