from left to right Leslie Lariviere, Andrew Ripley, Jerome Beaver, Delaney Oskineegish, Shallum Beaver, Chelsea Tremblay, Patrick Rawn
KIRKLAND LAKE, ON: The latest group of students from Northern College’s Surface Diamond Driller Assistant Common Core program graduated today, at a ceremony held at the Kirkland Lake Campus Auditorium. Three of the seven graduating students are from Nibinamik First Nation, located in Ontario’s Ring of Fire region.
This latest intake of the program was delivered in partnership with Cabo Drilling, Norex Drilling, Atlas Copco Exploration Products, Canadian Driller Training, Forthright Drilling Services, Nibinamik First Nation, Garden River First Nation, Wahgoshig First Nation, the Ontario government’s Second Career program, and Kiikenomaga Kikenjigewen Employment and Training Services (KKETS).
The three graduating students from Nibinamik First Nation, who were sponsored by KKETS, enrolled in the program after a former graduate travelled to their community to promote the program with the assistance of Cabo Drilling. The students showed exceptional resiliency during a six week period spent at Northern’s Kirkland Lake Campus drill site, working for extended periods in -40°C weather.
“Ontario’s Ring of Fire is slated to become one of Canada’s biggest industrial developments in decades, and it’s important for local residents to have opportunities to be involved with these developments and share in the prosperity they bring,” says Mike Baker, Vice-President of Finance, Administration and Aboriginal Services at Northern College. “By providing local residents with leading-edge training relevant to careers in the mining industry, we’re helping them position themselves to take advantage of the significant career opportunities that will arise from developments in the Ring of Fire, and in the global mining industry.”
The 10-week Northern College Haileybury School of Mines program taught the graduates the key skills required to work as a helper to a Surface Diamond Drill Operator. Topics covered in the program included working safely on and around a drill site, environmental protection, recovering and handling core samples and operating heavy equipment on a functional drill site.
For more information about Northern College’s Surface Diamond Driller Assistant Common Core program, including dates for future intakes or how to register, contact Rose-Lyne D’Aoust-Messier, Training Consultant by phone at 705.567.9291 ext. 3638 or by email at [email protected]
from left to right Leslie Lariviere, Andrew Ripley, Jerome Beaver, Delaney Oskineegish, Shallum Beaver, Chelsea Tremblay, Patrick Rawn