Kumtor employee to undergo six-month training on mining tire management in Ghana

published: 05 February 2016

Kumtor Gold Company’s specialist Mirbek Kurmanbayev will undergo a six-month vocational training in Kal Tire, one of the world’s leading companies in the mining tire maintenance and service. Training will take place in the West African Republic of Ghana, at the famous Tarkwa Gold Mine.

Currently, 97% of Kumtor Gold Company’s staff employees are Kyrgyz citizens, and their ratio is constantly growing. This process is the result of gradual replacement of foreign specialists by local workers.

After returning to Kyrgyzstan, Mirbek Kurmanbayev will replace one of the foreign specialists. The tire management at the Kumtor mine is currently performed by two foreign workers. Kurmanbayev will first replace one of them, but then, in early 2017, the second foreign specialist will finish his contract and the tire maintenance at the mine will become Mirbek’s full responsibility.
Kumtor Mine’s Maintenance Manager Gerard Wigglesworth noted that vocational training in Ghana, originally designed for 12 months, would be held in an intensive mode and take only six months. The company invests about $100,000 in the training of the specialist. “It is important for the professional growth of Mirbek, and for the company. I am personally interested in his success, and I believe that he will make it. Kumtor Company is doing a lot for training and professional development of its employees, especially for young specialists,” Gerard Wigglesworth said.

Mirbek Kurmanbayev started his working career in Kumtor Company five years ago as a translator. For good professional skills and abilities, he was promoted to the Planning Department. The Company provided him with the opportunity to obtain a second higher technical education in “Repair and Maintenance of Mining Equipment” at the Institute of Mining and Mining Technologies named after U. Asanaliev.

“I am very pleased and very grateful to our company, which takes so much care of us. The knowledge I will gain will belong not only to me, but the whole company and the entire country. I will make maximum use of the knowledge gained to improve the efficiency and success of the department I work in and the company as a whole. Education is a cornerstone in the development of not only individual professionals or companies, but of our whole country,” Mirbek Kurmanbayev said.