ABSTRACT
Rock pressure constitutes a serious hazard for the employees and stability of excavations in deep mines and requires professional attention at the design as well as operational stages of deep mines. To perform these tasks at a high professional standard requires highly qualified personnel at all levels. Experience shows that usual university training is often inadequate as it does not deal with all aspects of rock engineering at the required level or detail. The paper describes two different approaches to address this problem namely the establishment of a high level rock engineering training program as part of the European raw materials initiative and the establishment of a certificate of competence from the Chamber of Mines South Africa which evolved to a formal rock engineering qualification as part of a review of the legal aspects of competence within the South African Mine Health and Safety Act of 1996.
