The Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal is the daily newspaper of Northwestern Ontario.
Note: This is the third of a multi-part series looking at the mining sector of Northwestern Ontario and the Ring of Fire.
Katherine Bruce likes to blow things up.
A professor of engineering technology at Cambrian College, she described her passion for her previous work in the mining sector, especially in the underground pits, to a large group of rapt attendees at the Mining Your Future conference on Feb. 25.
Bruce is one of the post-secondary institution partners working to develop strategies and solutions for the skill and labour shortage facing the mining industry. Confederation College president Jim Madder is also working to prepare students with diverse backgrounds and interests, for both the direct and indirect jobs available in the mining sector.
“Northwestern Ontario has to change its mindset and realize that there are jobs available,” Madder said.
Confederation is committed to preparing students for those jobs and currently offers flexible upgrading programs and outreach, as well as directly applied programs such as the diamond drillers course and an eight-month mining techniques program.
The mining techniques program has been developed by multiple colleges and is being rebuilt by Confederation to provide students with the core skills of the industry, and an entrance certificate which they can use to pursue education and training in the more technical or professional aspects of mining.
Or, if they are interested in a more direct route at that point, they could be employed “directly at the rock face.”
Madder points out that the college also educates and prepares workers for the indirect jobs that will provide support to the burgeoning mining industrym such as accounting, human resources, marketing and food services.
He said he also hopes that the current dual credit program which allows high school students to take mining-related courses for which they could receive credit at the college will stimulate the interest that is needed at the onset of the career planning process.
He quotes Seneca College president Rick Miner’s paper, People without Jobs and Jobs without People, as providing a good blueprint on how to grow our workforce and provide the skill set that is needed.
Preparing students for the various aspects of the mining boom is also on the mind of Lakehead University administrators.
Provost and vice-president of academics Rod Hanley notes that Lakehead has had a long tradition of mining-related activities on campus, and the geology program was one of the first offered when the university was founded.
“Many of our geology graduates have gone on to play important roles within the mining industry around the world,” Hanley said.
A cursory review of a list reveals senior administrators in mining companies and educational institutions from as close as our local region to as far away as Australia.
“Mining is nothing new for us.”
Hanley said that professors from faculties other than geology also have an interest in the mining sector, and this multidisciplinary approach has resulted in an initiative that he feels will distinguish LU from other Canadian universities.
“We have a number of professors that are involved in outreach — interfacing with natural resources and the Aboriginal community.
“The emphasis will be on bringing people together, members of the Aboriginal communities and the mining industry and having the university serve as a negotiating partner or broker between these two entities.”
Hanley also points to Lakehead’s highly regarded engineering faculty where every program, whether chemical or civil engineering, has some interaction with mining and mining-related activities.
In response to the current interest in the engineering program as it relates to the mining sector, Hanley revealed that there are exciting plans underway which will speak directly to the mining sector’s requirements for a skilled workforce.
“We are in the process of capitalizing on that and developing a mining engineering program” he stated.
The new program has to undergo a rigorous approval process, but could be up and running within the next few years.
In addition to this new program, Lakehead is also planning for the development of a mining centre of excellence, which will be officially known as the Centre of Excellence in Mineral Exploration and Sustainable Mining Development. Drawing on the area’s strong background in mineral exploration, the centre will bring stakeholders together.
“Opportunities like the Ring of Fire don’t come along too often,” Hanley said. “It is an opportunity for us to get involved in the economic and social development of the community.”
It would seem that partnerships, collaboration and good planning are the keys to preparing the people without jobs for the jobs that are without people.
John Mason, CEDC Mining Services co-ordinator, couldn’t be happier.
“I am extremely pleased that both of our post-secondary institutions have been proactive in interfacing with the mineral industry,” he said.
Hopefully, the vision and positive energy that the education industry is demonstrating will “catch fire” with the future workers of the Ring of Fire and other mining projects.
Not only will those workers be rewarded with well-paying and interesting work, but as Katherine Bruce enthusiastically observed, they will be working in “the coolest career ever.”