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BCBUSINESS.CA MAY 2014 BCBusiness 23 W ith the mining industry in the doldrums these days, it's hard to believe there's a shortage of skilled labour. After all, slumping com- modity prices and a tough financing environment have led to layoffs across the sector. Mining companies nev- ertheless face an acute crisis: how to replace a massive wave of workers who will be retiring over the next decade. About 16,770 workers will have to be found by 2022, according to estimates from the Mining Industry Human Resources Council ( MIHRC). Companies are increasingly turn- ing to the largely untapped pool of workers in aboriginal communities. These potential employees offer sev- eral advantages, according to Rodger McLean, opportunity development manager at construction firm Ledcor Group, which does work for mining companies such as building facilities and preparing and reclaiming mine sites. Members of aboriginal communi- ties are often close to mining opera- tions in the more remote regions of the country, and companies gain local knowledge of mining sites, which can be invaluable during each stage of the mining cycle, McLean says. Ledcor has just started working with the Vancouver-based Aboriginal Mentoring and Training Association (formerly the B.C. Aboriginal Mine Training Association) for work it is performing for Taseko Mines Ltd. at Taseko's Gibraltar copper-molybde- num mine north of Williams Lake. AMTA, funded largely by the federal government, has placed more than 700 aboriginal workers in mining industry jobs at about 150 companies, mostly in B.C., since its founding in 2009. According to a Pricewaterhouse- Coopers study commissioned by AMTA and released last year, the average AMTA graduate earned an annual salary of $52,959, compared to $36,667 for aboriginal workers across all industries in the province. Each graduate also accounted for an estimated $106,804 contribution to provincial GDP, the report concludes. First Nations are eager to get work in the mining industry, not just for the paycheques but the longer-term oppor- tunities for themselves and their com- munities, says Dave Porter, CEO of the B.C. First Nations Energy and Mining Council. "We should cast this in terms of careers and not simply look at First Nations communities as warm bodies to fill the basic functions," he says. Mining and other resource compa- nies should be looking at recruiting First Nations candidates for roles in management, says Porter, includ- ing participation in designing and developing projects at the start of the mining cycle. "The aboriginal population is the fastest-growing in Canada, but at the same time has some of the highest unemployment rates. Then we hear of the resource sector having a labour shortage. One would think there would be a match," Porter says. "Now is the time to take the initiative." • An Untapped Labour Pool Mining faces an acute skilled-labour shortage and First Nations offer a solution by Brenda Bouw m i n i n g SOURCES: PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP; Mining Industry Human Resources Council 2012 B.C. mInIng revenues numBer of people WorkIng In mInIng estImated neW mInIng Workers needed By 2022 $9.2 BIllIon 10,419 16,770 p18-24-Frontlines_may.indd 23 2014-04-09 3:12 PM