In 2007, AngloGold Ashanti was at the forefront of international gold producers, ranking as the third-largest in the world. The South African group had 21 operations in 10 countries (the USA, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Ghana, Guinea, Mali, Namibia, South Africa, and Tanzania), as well as substantial exploration projects.

The successful operation of gold mines naturally revolves strongly around the supply of skilled labor, from engineers of various types to metallurgists, geologists and many types of artisans. This had increasingly been thrown into sharp relief by forecasts of acute skills shortages. For instance, the 2008 Landelahni Mining Survey researched 12 of the 18 main participants in the gold, coal, diamond, platinum and uranium mining sectors in South Africa, representing a sample of 177,491 permanent employees (56.,1% of total permanent employees), and uncovered various issues.

The supply of new engineering skills is problematic. Professional engineering registrations had dropped significantly since the late 1990s. A pass rate of less than 15% in relevant degrees produced too few graduates. Although there had been increases, only 428 mining engineers and 263 metallurgical engineers graduated in 2006. Sarah Burmeister, Landelahni Business Leaders CEO, commented at the time (Mpofu, 2010): “One must question whether the industry can support its growth objectives on 428 mining graduates a year. The answer clearly is: ‘No’.”

Retention of skilled staff was also a problem. Only 15% of mining engineering graduates remained in the industry in the long term. Many engineers were leaving for other industries, such as finance.

The situation with regard to artisans was even worse. The Joint Initiative for Priority Skills Acquisition (JIPSA) suggested that a minimum of 12,500 new artisans would be required each year over the immediate future to meet demand (The Skills Portal, 2008). However, the industry was not coming close to meeting this demand, and forecasts indicated continued shortages. Artisan training had declined markedly from the mid-1980s, from approximately 25,000 to fewer than 4,000, while demand was rising. The forecast for qualified artisans passing in mining skills under the Mining Qualifications Authority (MQA) was only about 430 against a target of almost 2,000. Burmeister commented again (Mpofu, 2010):

“Artisan training requires a significantly increased investment by both government and private sector ... The current artisan population is aging, with an average age of 50-55 years. So we should not merely be training for current needs, but also to replace the aging workforce.”

These types of forecasts did not go unnoticed in mining companies such as AngloGold Ashanti. The mining industry dramatically increased in-house training to compensate. By 2006, some 99% of unskilled workers in the South African mining industry received training compared to the 36.7% industry average. For the AngloGold of that era, it was not only South Africa where the problem existed. For instance, at its Geita mine in Tanzania, the company established a full-time training center, which trains artisans in fitting, electrical, plating and welding, diesel mechanic and auto electrician skills. In its Argentinian operations, at the end of 2006 the company entered into a significant joint venture to train local unskilled employees.

It is the marked discrepancies between demand and supply forecasts that gave impetus to this impressive response in skills development. Underneath all this analysis was effectively the simplest of statistics – averages, percentages, and the like – that drove major strategic thrusts.