Obuasi, Nov 18, GNA - The Minister of Employment and Social Welfare, Mr Enoch Teye Mensah, has re-affirmed government's commitment to deepen its collaboration with the mining industry towards ensuring proper development of the nation's human resource base.

In a speech read for him at the opening of the second national conference on human resource management in the mining industry at Obuasi, Mr Mensah said collaboration would also lead to ensuring that the returns from the mining industry were put into proper use for the benefit of the nation. The two-day conference was organised by the Ghana Chamber of Mines is under the theme: "Transformational Human Resource Management - Multiple Challenges, New Approaches".

It is being attended by staff of human resource unit of the mining companies and their support services providers. The Minister drew the conference's attention to the special human resource capability model developed by the Australian Public Services and Merit Protection Commission and said it sought to provide useful tool in shaping future development activities for human resource practitioners. "It is expected of human resource practitioners to model high standards of behaviour through their own actions, and inspire trust by treating all individuals fairly," he said.

Mr Dan Owiredu, the President of the Chamber, said the oil find posed a critical challenge to the mining industry of which the human resource practitioners should keep a focus on the need to develop an internal capacity to address the emerging challenges.

"As we welcome the prospective role of oil in the Ghanaian economy, the leadership role of Ghana's mining industry in Africa and its global significance is a veritable heritage that must be preserved as we talk of the multiple challenges and the approaches in transformational human resource management," the President said.

In a speech read for her Dr Joyce Aryee, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Chamber, appealed to the human resource practitioners to continue to play an effective role in moving the mining industry forward by developing collaborative cross industry education and training strategies and making the best use of all potential sources of labour supply. She said the contributions the mining industry offer to the country including fiscal revenue, foreign direct investment, community development and employment make the conference more relevant as it has to seek new approaches to mitigate the multiple challenges which confront all social partners in the industry.

The Managing Director of Anglogold Ashanti Obuasi Mine, Mr Kwesi Enyan, said he was hopeful that the conference would provide innovative and practical interventions that would enhance the people-management capacity of the mining industry. This is because "the single most important part of business is not the ore body nor the grades, the process plants nor the shaft head gears, neither is it the sophiscated mining equipments we use. Actually, it is our people," he said. 19 Nov 10