Mining show uncovers the hidden riches of the industry in Canada – by Dave Cooper (Edmonton Journal – May 5, 2012)

http://www.edmontonjournal.com/index.html

EDMONTON – Walking into the Shaw Conference Centre, professional gold panner Yukon Dan Moore stands over eager young miners swishing water through gravel, looking for gleaming flecks.

“Folks always ask is there any gold left in the world. Wow, there will always be gold, it’s everywhere,” said Moore, who with a long grey beard, leather hat and vest looks like he just left his riverside haunts. “I pan in the Thompson and other rivers in B.C., and I make a good living at it.”

If Moore is at one end of the mining process, University of Alberta mining engineering students such as Josh Andrews are at the other. He and others watched children driving Caterpillar simulators or using a toothpick to break apart a chocolate chip cookie — the toothpicks, which cost pretend money, represent equipment, while the chocolate is the ore.

Break too many toothpicks and the cost of extraction will be more than the ore is worth. “It’s a basic mining concept. We are trying to get kids to understand the challenges of mining,” said Andrews, who graduates and leaves soon for his first full-time job with Teck, Canada’s largest mining company.

“The world is short of mining engineers and the whole class of 40 this year has jobs, in Canada and even places like New Zealand. The program is going to double in size next year.”

The Mining, Minerals, Metals and Materials for Society exhibition, called M4S, attracted thousands of schoolchildren to the convention centre last week and drew many young families and students Saturday.

They looked at eight pavilions covering exploration, mining, processing, sustainability, products, and education, plus health and safety.

There were also several large mining “toys,” such as a haul truck, underground mining equipment and a shovel, set up in Churchill Square.

The devices are intended to show people the importance of mining in modern society, said Tim Joseph, an associate U of A engineering professor and chair of the local chapter of CIM, the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum.

For the rest of this article, please go to the Edmonton Journal’s website: http://www.edmontonjournal.com/business/Mining+show+uncovers+hidden+riches+industry+Canada/6573366/story.html