Job growth in mining demands workers with business management skills

For over 100 years, Canada has been a global leader in natural resources extraction. Canadian extractive sector companies are highly regarded at home and abroad for their efficiency, productivity, innovation, safety, and environmental leadership. In 2009, the mining industry alone accounted for 3.5% of the country’s total GDP, bringing $59B foreign direct investment in Canada, and employing over 350,000 people.^[1] Toronto, meanwhile, is a world capital for mining sector investment, with the Toronto Stock Exchange serving as a major financing hub for the sector.

In a recent report commissioned by the Toronto Financial Services Alliance, Boston Consulting Group (BCG)[2] identified Canada as the leading global hub for mining financing and trading with Toronto as a key centre for this activity. BCG forecasts the potential for upwards of 6000 additional jobs to be created within this segment of the mining sector alone over the next five years.

Consultations between Ryerson University and industry experts have led to one clear conclusion: expanding Canada’s position as a leader in the fiercely competitive world of natural resources extraction will require employees who fully comprehend business management theories and practices. To meet this growing demand for skilled talent, programs such as Ryerson’s postgraduate Certificate in Mining Management provides students with knowledge in areas that are crucial to their professional success in mining-related positions in companies, government, the financial sector, the legal environment, and elsewhere. Subjects to be covered include resource valuation and finance, business ethics/CSR, asset management, environmental protection, legal issues, investor communications, human resources, government relations, and global markets.

Stakeholders in government, the financial community, and industry-based associations have endorsed the need for mining sector-focused management education at the undergraduate level. As the mining sector increasingly faces complex challenges such as technological advances, globalization and corporate consolidation, employees will require the right business management skills to be tomorrow’s leaders.

Dr. Philip Walsh, P.Geol., Ryerson University

Dr. Philip Walsh, P.Geol., is the academic coordinator for the Certificate in Mining Management program at Ryerson University’s The G. Raymond Chang School of Continuing Education.  

 [1] The Mining Association of Canada (April, 2010): The Canadian Mining Industry: