Here at St Barbara, we are proud to be contributing to developing and empowering the future generation of industry leaders for Papua New Guinea (PNG). We continue to engage students from various tertiary institutions in the country at our Simberi Operations to complete their on-the-job- training (OJT) as part of their tertiary studies. This month we welcomed two female students from the Papua New Guinea University of Technology (UniTech) and a male student from the Don Bosco Technical Institute (DBTI) in Port Moresby who are currently on a six-week OJT in their respective fields of study. Nigel Neofa, a second year Bachelor in Instrumental Technology student with the DBTI, was recently joined by two Unitech final year students Scholastica Towal (Bachelor of Mineral Processing Engineering) and Edna Tetuna (Mining Engineering) to apply theory to application with various departments of the Simberi Operations. [caption id="attachment_31519" align="aligncenter" width="1280"] Scholastica and Edna briefly catching up outside St Barbara’s Simberi Operations processing mill.[/caption] Nigel has already learnt so much doing his In-Plant Training (IPT) and finds Simberi as an exciting and interesting learning environment. Attached with the Mill Maintenance team, Nigel has learnt how to do hands-on trouble shooting as a trainee instrumentation technician. “So far, I have learnt how to do trouble shooting as an instrumentation technician. I get to test equipment and use multi-testers to do calibration. Apart from doing jobs within my trade, I was given the opportunity to do some electrical work and that involved the termination and setting up of seven light bulbs in the warehouse,” explained Nigel. Scholastica, after her first week of working with process engineers and metallurgists to analyse plant performance, is overwhelmed with excitement and gratefulness. “I am really enjoying my training at Simberi, and I thank the company for giving me the opportunity to put into practice what I have learnt. I am graduating in April next year and I am excited about the possibility of starting a career with Simberi Operations,” she said. Two more female trainees will start their training in December.