17 Feb 2016

Mine! Mine! Mine!

by | posted in: Uncategorized | 0

 

Mine1

 

So….here we are… 2016…. and how’s it going?

To be perfectly honest this year has already started to kick my butt all over the place, some good …. some badish, but mainly just so much change, and even more prospect of change, but don’t get me wrong, [tweetthis]I love change just as much as the next butterfly, but man it’s exhausting!!![/tweetthis]

 

But here, here is something that hasn’t change…. My knowledge about African Mining!! lol! Yip and this is what I am blessed to be blogging about today! Buckle up friends, its going to be a “blast”… get it? Blast? Mining? ye…..

 

African Mining

 

Anyhoo, here is the “411” on Mining in general right now…. we may get to Africa later… hopefully!

Well as I write this, the biggest mining gathering in the world has just taken place, More than 6,000 delegates from 100 nations gathered at the Mining Indaba in Cape Town , from the 8th – 11th Feb 2016.

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Why? Well, with commodity prices plummeting as they are, the struggle to retain or obtain foreign investment is a real one  #TheStruggleIsReal

Let me start by saying….The feeling is not good thus far.

[tweetthis]In South Africa alone 47,000 jobs were lost between 2012 and 2015.[/tweetthis]

Half of the coal mines and iron ore mines and 80% of the Platinum industry is losing money – not exactly a good investment for anyone I’m afraid.

I found this very interesting and really just horrifying! …..South Africa is ranked number 11th in Africa as one of the “most attractive investment countries”?????  What? am I the only one who feels like we should be number 1!?!

 

 

 

One of the Presentations of the Indaba came as a “bail out plan”, and was presented by 474615293 Nikolai Zelenski, Chief Executive Officer of Nordgold, he claims Nordgold has a Proven Strategy in a Lower Price Environment.

nordgold

So Who is Nordgold?

“Nordgold (LSE: NORD) is an internationally diversified low-cost gold producer established in 2007 and publicly traded on the London Stock Exchange. The Company has expanded rapidly through carefully targeted acquisitions and organic growth, achieving a rate of growth unmatched in the industry during that period. In 2015, Nordgold produced 950 thousand ounces of gold. The Company operates 9 mines and has 2 development projects, 4 advanced exploration projects and a diverse portfolio of early-stage exploration projects and licenses in Burkina Faso, Guinea, Russia, Kazakhstan, French Guiana and Canada. Nordgold employs more than 8,000 people.”

Now to be perfectly honest with you, I don’t have what it takes to break down and unpack a strategy of this magnitude to anyone, so I’m not even going to try, but I do know how to copy and paste, so go wild;)

www.nordgold.com/investors-and-media/presentations/

 

Mining in Africa… well here it is, I have searched high and low and here is the low down….

Commodities dropped sharply last year, and news from Matthew Davies of BBC Africa is that there will be no recovery this year, he reported that In Zambia, the country’s main export, copper, now sells for less than half than it did just three years ago, now my math is not great, but that sounds terrible!!!

And I’m right because some mining companies have even halted production all together and miners are losing their jobs at the rate of knots.

This has led to a plunge in the currency, and a rise in inflation which is expected to continue…….

And as fate would have it several other African countries are in the same boat, including big oil producers like Nigeria and Angola!

[tweetthis]I’m starting to think mining is at fault for everything bad in my life![/tweetthis]

Ridiculous Avo prices, cellulite and rising fuel prices!…. I know they are at fault for at least one of those.…rolling eyes

 

But I am an eternal optimist, romantic and impossible dreamer, so I believe the cellulite will pass…. lol! no really, I have hope that yes, maybe not this year, but in the future our Mining economy will rise once more, the fact that people are talking about it, must mean it’s important and is being made a priority so I will not need to fret another moment about this!

Relief, the pressure was really getting to me!

 

 

But apparently pressure in the mining industry is a good thing…. fbfffaa05b0bec0317176754817d40f8

 

Well this has been real… thanks. If you find the time and want to get in touch with any of the mining projects we currently following at

Leads 2 Business, please feel free to contact myself, SherinaS@L2B.co.za or Support@L2b.co.za and we will be more than happy to oblige!

 

 

I look forward to hearing from you 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

About Sherina Shawe

"You have to do everything you can, you have to work your hardest, and if you do, if you stay positive, you have a shot at a silver lining." from: Silver Linings Playbook.

12 May 2015

Human Resources & Human Capital Tips

by | posted in: Business Risk, General, Life Lessons, Uncategorized | 0

Say what now????

This topic is definitely not something I sit around on the weekend bantering about, so believe me when I say I was not 100% excited to write about it…. well at first anyway, then I gave myself the “Knowledge is Power” pep talk and took to Google for some inspiration!

So Human Resources vs Human Capital….

Human resources is the set of individuals who make up the workforce of an organization, business sector, or economy.

Human capital is the stock of knowledge, habits, social and personality attributes, including creativity, embodied in the ability to perform labor so as to produce economic value. (not limited to the work place)
So from what I can gather, Human capital is the development of your work force, this in theory gives them a feel good feeling, encouraging performance and in turn grows your company revenue. 😉

This seems like the most logical way to run an organization right?

Well, I remember being in my early 20s and going to my first few interviews and being shot down right after them asking “So what experience do you have?”… “ummmm well I’m 20… so anything more than waiting tables and a killer coinage hand… not much!”

Where exactly would I acquire this experience they were all talking about?

Yes I understand its important to hire employees who can come into your organization and pick up right where possibly the last person left, but…. wouldn’t it be more important to hire some one who WANTS to do that? Eager and ready to learn, grow, develop and improve their skills?
So what I’m getting at is, Attitude has to trump experience! Surely? Right?

Now for obvious reasons, this strategy is only going to work if you follow through and actually grow your newbies.
Hiring someone with zero experience followed by no development is going to break your business!
So where do you start? How do you improve your companies Human Capital?

  • Don’t let employees become complacent or stagnant.
  • Offer and encourage education in terms of in-house courses, training, webinars and literature.
  • Reward – this will inspire your workforce to do more and be more.

Now Human capital goes both ways, it is not solely the employers responsibility.
As an employee, you need to initiate development with in yourself.

  • know the philosophy of the company you work for, this will give you an idea of where your employer is striving to take his company, giving you an advantage over the rest of your colleagues that are only interested in collecting their monthly pay cheque.
  • Don’t limit yourself, further your education where possible, this doesn’t have to be formal if finances don’t permit it, but use the resource the world-wide-web so readily provides us with.
    “Wear more than one hat” meaning don’t be scared to learn every aspect of what your company does.

Ultimately realise that Human Capital is personal, better yourself where ever possible, learn a new language, a new skill, read about a topic you would not usually read about, broaden your vocabulary, start a blog, get involved in a community sport or fund raising activity, get creative!

Learning something new has to be one of the most rewarding feelings and very seldom goes unnoticed not to mention, more often than not this will inspire the next person:)

So here’s my final food for thought.

Something for the employer to think about:
CFO asks CEO: “What happens if we invest in developing our people & then they leave us?” CEO: ‘What happens if we don’t, and they stay?”
And something for the employee to think about:
“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.”
― Dr. Seuss,

And look…. I just wrote about something I started out knowing NOTHING about, and now I think I may possibly have the ability to hold a 2 minute uninterrupted conversation about it…. ahhhh look at me grow!

🙂 😉

About Sherina Shawe

"You have to do everything you can, you have to work your hardest, and if you do, if you stay positive, you have a shot at a silver lining." from: Silver Linings Playbook.

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