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Teaming Up for Training

Some industries cannot operate without a qualified workforce. The workforce, however, cannot gain the experience needed for the job without working for that industry. What’s the solution to this catch-22?


[ 2009-03-02 ]

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When industries anticipate a big demand for qualified staff, their best bet is to team up with educational institutes to train future workers. Though the concept is not novel –Edmonton’s Northern Alberta Institute of Technology has been doing it for nearly 40 years – it is effective on many counts. By connecting new or blossoming industries with the local workforce, it benefits both companies and communities.

Take this recent example from the Northwest Territories. When diamonds were discovered 100 kilometres north of Yellowknife in 1991, three major mining projects set up shop in the area relatively soon after. BHP Billiton opened a mine in 1998, followed by Diavik in 2003 and De Beers in 2008. Part of their deals with local government included commitments to prioritize hiring northerners and northern aboriginal people. The trouble, however, was that northerners had no experience mining for diamonds.

Training for jobs in mining

A non-profit called the Mine Training Society teamed up with Aurora College, the territory’s only post-secondary education institution, to offer new programs geared specifically to the diamond industry. “When BHP was conditioning its mine, it had the luxury of calling on tradespeople from across the territory,” says Hilary Jones, general manager of MTS. “Diavik didn’t have that luxury because all the [qualified] people had been scooped up.”

At the time, the college already offered programs in carpentry, heavy equipment operation, electrician’s training and plumbing/gasfitter training. They added an office administration mine training co-op program, as well as an underground miner training program.


Industry investments

To enhance the quality of the training, the territory’s three diamond mining companies each contributed toward the cost of a $1.5-million simulator. Students in the new underground miner training program use it to learn how to operate underground mining equipment. “This is something you sit in and feel the vibrations, as if you were in a real unit,” says Kerry Robinson, Aurora College’s manager of program development. “That type of training is very effective and efficient.”

In its 2008 annual report, MTS says it has trained 472 northerners for jobs in the mining sector since the organization’s inception in 2004. It’s a start for the northern diamond mining sector, which MTS says will need to fill 2,700 jobs within the next five years.

Do poor prospects in these fields have you wondering what can be done to protect your job? Read more:

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