Technical professions represent 81% of the demanded human capital in the Chilean mining industry.

By Carlos Inostroza

The continuous industrial growth of China during the past decade has raised the price of copper, unleashing the need to increase the production in countries and/or entities that provide this mineral. This has hurried the need to have specialised human capital of greater quality that is capable of facing the challenge. What we may interpret as an obstacle, we should see it as unbeatable scenery to make the industry mature and present it as sustainable employment source accompanied by a world class formational institutionalism.

Particularly in the technical areas of professions –which, according to Mining Labour Force 2013-2022 research, represent 81% of the human capital demanded in the Chilean mining industry-, it is fundamental that the training system contains as core ideas standards that reflect the demands of the industry.

Have we moved towards that direction? We believe so and the evidence lays in the experience of the Council of Mining Competences (CCM) and VetaMinera, which since 2013 have developed a policy to detect human capital gaps through several studies, generating quality standards for the mining education world.

VetaMinera, in particular, is a model that articulates training processes to enter the mining industry, collaborating with public entities and providing support to technical training institutes. The objective is to promote labour integration towards mining among young people and women. Even though this model is still marginal within the current training world, it already has set milestones to be outlined: alliances with 10 OTEC and moving towards expansion; 1.300 graduates with the VetaMinera seal; 200 companies in its labour intermediation network; and, up to now, 50% of VetaMinera graduates have gotten a job.

Advancing through this path offers the chance of modelling a modern and inclusive mining industry that generates high productivity on an international scale, but also opens opportunities for human development on a local level.

Director of Atracción Veta Minera · Fundación Chile

Column originally published in www.estrategia.cl