Employee training and development opportunities include:

• in-house and external training in supervisory and leadership skills, and safety, health and environment management development programmes;
• a 3-4 year graduate training programme for former bursars and non-bursars;
• a self-study assistance scheme; and
• a mentorship programme.

An aggressive drilling programme is under way with a view both to developing Skorpion as an underground mining operation and identifying zinc resources elsewhere in Namibia. Other projects under consideration include the processing of a 6Mt stockpile of low-grade zinc ore and the processing of >100 000t of copper, currently mined as waste.

A sustainability committee provides direction and oversight.

Key sustainability focus areas include:

• The environment. Skorpion is located in one of the world’s 25 biodiversity hotspots – the succulent Karoo Biome – and near the Spergebeit National Park. To manage its actual and potential impacts on these environmentally sensitive areas, Skorpion has a biodiversity action plan, backed by a biodiversity policy.
• Communities. Skorpion works directly with key stakeholders in order to develop and fund various corporate social investment (CSI) projects, majority of which are in education, but also include skills development healthcare, sport and infrastructure development.
• Business continuity. Skorpion biggest obligation in terms of sustainability is to stay in business; without this it cannot continue to deliver on its other obligations, and those of VZI. This is what drives the Pit 112 expansion, the planned refinery conversion, exploration and other projects.