Inco and Cambrian unite to solve skills shortage

Toronto-based Inco Ltd. (TSE) and Cambrian College are planning to set up a joint training program next year designed to offer technical and mining skills to high school graduates who are interested in a career in the industry.

The program is being proposed by Inco to meet its employment needs over the next two to three years and to prepare new employees for an industry that is having to rely increasingly on new technology.

“At Inco alone, because of our anticipated attrition due mainly to early retirements, we expect to hire from 150 to 250 people a year for the next five years,” said Paul Parker, Inco’s vice-president administration.

While Inco is funding the on-the- job portion of the program, Cambrian College is asking the Ontario provincial government for approximately $3 million to cover the cost of running it. A proposal for a program has already been sent to the office of Ontario Skills Development Minister Alvin Curling. If government support for the certificate program is received, Cambrian College President Glenn Crombie said successful applicants will be paid by Inco to take a 48-week course which will combine on-the-job-training with in-class instruction.

Cambrian already offers courses in applied arts and technology to the 6,000 students who attend the college every year, but the Inco program will be broader in scope than those already being offered to mining metallurgists and technicians.

According to Crombie, an Inco- Cambrian task force is refining the curriculum, which will include subjects like English, physical fitness, mathematics, physics and electrical/hydraulics.

“Extracting ore from underground is now a highly technical process and new employees need more training if they are going to be able to work safely,” said Crombie, who expects the tuition fee to be around $700.

While the program was tabled at a news conference in Sudbury July 7, an official for the Ministry of Skills development said the minister would have to take a closer look at the proposal before making any decision. “It is unusual that they (Inco and Cambrian) would announce the program by putting out a press release and then ask for government support,” said Cathy Macpheerson, a policy advisor with the Ministry of Skills Development.

Students taking the proposed course will be drawn from northern Ontario where community colleges like Cambrian and the Haileybury School of Mines have suffered enrollment problems in recent years.

Crombie attributes the enrollment drop to competition from community colleges in larger centres like Ottawa and Toronto. Growing concerns of the state of the Canadian environment means that community colleges are also having problems attracting students to programs related to the mining industry, he told The Northern Miner.

Three years ago, Inco and Cambrian collaborated to provide training for staff hired to manage a copper mine in Zambia. The proposal for the current scheme came up during discussions between Parker and Crombie.

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