HD Mining International Ltd. signed an agreement with the Northern Lights College to develop a curriculum for a long-wall underground mining program, reports 660news. The company hired temporary foreign workers to work at a mine using long-wall mining due to the lack of skilled Canadians capable of this technique.
“And we already know there’s a shortage of not just underground mining workers, but of mining workers as a whole nationally right now. So it is going to take some time to work to develop that program and train those workers but the objective of HD Mining is to fully transfer this skill set to Canadians over time.” [Jody Shimkus, vice-president of environmental and regulatory affairs for HD Mining International Ltd.]
[…] Nunoda [Peter Nunoda, vice-president academic and research at Northern Lights College] dispelled any suggestion the agreement came about as a result of the controversy around the mine. He said the company first approached the school well over a year ago about developing a curriculum.