Learning to take diamonds from the sea

Augetto Graig - Diamonds need to be polished and individuals need to be groomed in order to achieve their full potential. Debmarine Namibia has long realised the need for people to sail its ships, man its operations and produce its diamonds. For its latest, greatest diamond recovery vessel the company started actively recruiting in October 2019, months after officially announcing the N$7 billion endeavour. The Additional Mining Vessel 3 (AMV3) was then expected to create up to 160 new employment opportunities at the off-shore joint diamond venture between Debeers and the government of Namibia. At the time André Liebenberg, senior HR manager for recruitement said 63 additional trainees had been appointed for the new vessel.“To date we have recruited 125 employees for the new vessel. Their basic training and specialised training was conducted in Romania and Cape Town. The company seconded 17 employees including a captain, vessel manager, engineers and support staff,” Debmarine Namibia senior communication officer Anna Ikela confirmed this week.Among those engineers, trainees and secondments were Namibians young and old, experienced and new to the sea, from rural and urban background and different cultures, all committed to the same outcome. Sean Rainey is a software engineer from Windhoek who started working for Debmarine Namibia in 2012. His excitement peaked at the thought of going out to sea. Onboard he was preoccupied with aiding the development of the software systems for the vessel. The vessel fills him with a sense of pride, he says. “Having young people on a project of this magnitude is upskilling young Namibians but also showing that we do have capable young Namibians,” he said. One such capable young Namibian is Ndapewa Shikage who hails from Ondangwa and schooled in Oshikango before attending the University of Cape Town. “It started at the beginning of 2020 when I was seconded to the AMV3 project. Later I would see the initial design concept come to materialize. My role as the automation and information engineering software aide is to assist the senior. It includes ensuring all control systems are up to standard, incorporating learnings from the fleet, and some of the newest technologies. The most challenging was making sure the quality of work was uncompromised during the pandemic and all that came with it. You just have to believe in yourself and if you are passionate about it, go ahead and do it,” she said.Joanna Haufiku shares the same enthusiasm. She was born in Windhoek and went to school at MH Greef and the DHPS before completing her Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering at UCT. She joined Debmarine Namibia in 2017 and was seconded to the AMV3 in 2020, where she assisted on the Launch and Recovery System (LARS) and the team leaders in charge on the state-of-the-art sea-bottom crawler. “As a woman the journey has been challenging but very rewarding. I am passionate about learning and solving problems, and I am a team player who appreciates bringing value to the team, and learning from people who are able to bring different perspectives to the solution. I have learned not to allow myself to be limited by what I perceive others think of me,” she adds about the maiden voyage that the vessel completed from Romania to South Africa in less than a month. “For Namibia to become a sea-fairing nation would require more investment in making the public aware of the opportunities at sea, such as exploration geologists, fisheries or leisure. We need to peak the interests of students and learners at local educational institutions. They need to know it is open to them,” she said. Another lady aboard is mechanical engineer Carmen Reiff (27). She has known the sea all her life, having been born in Oranjemund and growing up a single child at school in Swakopmund, before later moving to Grootfontein and ending her high school career in the capital. She did her tertiary level education at Stellenbosch University in South Africa where Debmarine Namibia identified her talent and provided a scholarship from her second year of study. “I started working for Debmarine in 2017 and am now a project engineer concerned with the vessel construction. It has been exciting, working with different people, seeing their skills, their cultures and learning their influences. This is a world class project,” she said. “Most memorable was seeing all the different components come together to put together a functioning treatment plant. It was 402 tons when they lifted it into place,” she recalled. “They used massive cranes to get it onto the vessel and it was so exciting because the plant is multiple stories high,” she said.“As a woman in a predominantly male environment, it has been a positive experience and eye-opening to observe the prevalent dynamics in construction and mining. It has challenged me to change these dynamics and to be part of the change in terms of gender and culture.” She says for a young Namibian working on the project has been an extreme privilege; “It has enriched my personal career development and taught me to think from the ground up, applying first principles. It stimulates different parts of your brain to meet different individuals and tap into their different skills and mindsets, and to transfer knowledge,” she said. She promotes a career in marine mining and maritime industries. “Go for it,” she says, “there are a multitude of opportunities and so many different niches.” Her encouragement goes specifically to young women to engage in engineering, marine biology and navigation. “Get the tools and become skilled. It takes a lot of work but it is very rewarding. Thanks to the high demand internationally there are many opportunities. The most important value in any organisation is pulling together and that resonates with me. Despite our differences we are able to achieve a common goal in an environment of growth and strength,” she said.David Shivute has built his life around the new vessel. “I was one of the fortunate to get a bursary from Debmarine to do my Bsc in mechanical engineering. I am currently a production engineer. I was seconded in early 2018 and I was one of the first few involved in the feasibility phase. Later I was involved in the execution and into commissioning, and now taking her into operation. My role in the project as production engineer and to assure asset management to keep the systems in place, maintenance, materials and stores. My highlights were joining the assurance team, secondly when we arrived ashore in Cape Town, and third seeing the big lifts happening during the integration,” he said.“It has been challenging since I was seconded to Cape Town, and required lifestyle changes to find a balance. I got married in my second year of secondment and in my third year we had a son. This vessel means a lot to me, not just for career development but for the pride of every Namibian involved. What we have been able to achieve in little over three year is remarkable and the vessel will be operated by Namibians in Namibian waters. It is a great contribution to the economy. To the youth I say there are lots of opportunities in fisheries and marine diamond mining. Work hard and take up an education so you can become deck or engineering cadets. Then remain committed.”Gert Briers is a maintenance coordinator aboard the vessel, whose journey mining diamonds started in 1980 with CDM and he has been with De Beers in Namibia ever since. “Since inception I have been on the vessels. For me one memorable highlight was the Covid lockdown when we were working remotely. I did not think that was possible and we have had quite a journey, but we pull it off quite successfully,” he said. “For me it was a privilege and a great opportunity to work with young people, that you don’t always get in Namibia, and for the young people is can be something to be proud of. My role is to make sure proper maintenance is put in place for the best up-time. This ship is probably my final project for my country and it is something to be proud of. I look forward to the fruits it will bear in the years to come,” he said.#AMV3augetto@republikein.comna

Learning to take diamonds from the sea

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Republikein 2025-06-19

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Learning to take diamonds from the sea

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