Twitter

Mining Education and Innovation

Laurentian strikes gold with [IAMGOLD] research chair – by Heidi Ulrichsen (Sudbury Northern Life – January 14, 2013)

http://www.northernlife.ca/

IAMGOLD donates $1.25M to fund position

Thanks to a $1.25-million donation from IAMGOLD Corporation, Laurentian University’s Bharti School of Engineering will soon host the country’s first research chair in open-pit mining. The research chair is also the first at Laurentian funded entirely by private industry.

IAMGOLD Corporation, a 6,000-employee company with operations in Quebec, West Africa and South America, plans to open an open-pit gold mine at its Côté Gold project south of Gogama in 2017.

The company is looking to spend $1.4 billion to develop the mine, which will employ up to 2,000 people during construction and 400 people once up and running.Given these plans, the company thought it was a good idea to sponsor the research chair, said IAMGOLD CEO Stephen Letwin.

He said the company needs employees trained in the area of open-pit mining and sees the contribution as “an investment in the future.”

“I just can’t tell you how pleased we are to be part of the community and be partners with the school and partners with the region,” Letwin said, speaking to Northern Life on Jan. 14 after the position was announced.

Read more

NEWS RELEASE: LAURENTIAN CREATES FIRST RESEARCH CHAIR IN OPEN-PIT MINING – Canadian company IAMGOLD funds position with $1.25M investment

(L to R) Stephanie Fontaine (2nd Year Mining Engineering Student), Ramesh Subramanian (Laurentian University), Gordon Stothart (IAMGOLD), Dave Brown (IAMGOLD), Philip Gaultier (IAMGOLD), Albert Nelmapius (IAMGOLD), Pierre Pelletier (IAMGOLD), Stephen Letwin (IAMGOLD), Tracy MacLeod (Laurentian University), Dominic Giroux (Laurentian University).

SUDBURY, ON (January 14, 2013) – The Bharti School of Engineering at Laurentian University in Sudbury will establish Canada’s first Research Chair in Open-Pit Mining, with the support of a significant investment from Canadian mining firm, IAMGOLD Corporation.

The company’s investment of $1.25M, dedicated to the creation of a Research Chair, was announced by IAMGOLD’s President and Chief Executive Officer, Stephen Letwin at a celebration at Laurentian University this afternoon.

“This investment represents a critically-important enhancement of our research capacity at the Bharti School. This new Research Chair will attract more cutting-edge knowledge to our mining engineering programs, and will certainly augment our international reputation in mining,” said Dr. Ramesh Subramanian, Director of the Bharti School of Engineering.

“The future of the mining industry depends on our ability to step up the pace of innovation and this has to start with educational programs and research opportunities specializing in advanced mining techniques,” said Steve Letwin, IAMGOLD’s President and CEO. “Creating Canada’s first Research Chair in the highly specialized field of open-pit mining, positions Laurentian University as a leader in mining research.

Read more

[Sudbury] Robotics impress minister – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – January 10, 2013)

The Sudbury Star is the City of Greater Sudbury’s daily newspaper.

FedNor Minister Tony Clement left Sudbury on Wednesday with a promise to a city entrepreneur his government would do everything it can to remove road blocks to developing innovative robotics.

Clement first delivered almost $1.8 million in FedNor funding to two organizations in the city to create jobs and stimulate economic growth. The Northern Water Sports Centre received $1 million toward the cost of constructing the facility and Nickel Basin Federal Development Corporation received $795,000 to offer access to capital for new and existing small- and medium-sized businesses.

Clement then travelled 20 minutes to a former elementary school in Naughton that now houses a business called Penguin Automated Systems Inc., where 26 people work in the field of robotics and automation.

Penguin chair and chief technology officer Greg Baiden toured Clement around the plant, showing him where the $400,000 that FedNor gave to Penguin will be put to use.

Baiden and company have developed a prototype he calls a “sewer rat bot” that is used to inspect and map wastewater pipes.
The FedNod money will go to develop two more prototypes that will put the robot closer to production.

Read more

Retired industry professionals address [mining] training gap – by Heather Campbell (Northern Ontario Business – January 4, 2013)

 Established in 1980, Northern Ontario Business provides Canadians and international investors with relevant, current and insightful editorial content and business news information about Ontario’s vibrant and resource-rich North.

A trio of Sudbury mining veterans, Dennis Shannon, Mike Mooney and Otto Rost, have teamed up to establish the National Mine Safety Training Centre (NMSTC). There are a lot of contractors working in the mines today who are not necessarily trained for a mine environment, said Shannon, NMSTC’s president.

Proper training ensures their safety and limits the liability of their employers.

Shannon is a retired educator who taught ground control at both Cambrian College and the Northern Centre for Advanced Technology (NORCAT). He and NORCAT past-president Darryl Lake founded the Ontario Centre for Ground Control Training and helped to create the first Ontario operating mine dedicated to training and product development.

Mooney, the chief financial officer, started two successful businesses – Ground Control, which he sold, and Shotcrete Plus, which continues as a father and son operation. Rost, the vice-president, is a design engineer who ran his own instrumentation and communication business. He has designed software for mine equipment monitoring that captures location, service, maintenance and availability.

Read more

NEWS RELEASE: NORTHERN ONTARIO HERITAGE FUND CORPORATION INVESTS IN LAURENTIAN RESEARCH CHAIR IN OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY

(L to R) John Fera, former president of USW Local 6500; Leo Gerard, CROSH Advisory Committee Chair; Honourable Rick Bartolucci, Minister of Northern Development and Mine and Chair of the NOHFC; Marianne Matichuk, Mayor of the City of Greater Sudbury; Dr. Tammy Eger, Director of CROSH; Dominic Giroux, President and Vice Chancellor of Laurentian University.

SUDBURY, ON (DECEMBER 19, 2012) –The Honourable Rick Bartolucci, Minister of Northern Development and Mines and Chair of the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation (NOHFC), today announced funding for the establishment of a Research Chair in Occupational Health and Safety at Laurentian University.

The new Research Chair in the existing Centre for Research in Occupational Safety and Health (CROSH) will lead research relevant to a broad range of workplaces. The Research Chair will work to make the Centre a national and international leader in occupational health and safety research, development, education, training, and global best practices. The CROSH Research Chair will be supported by a team of research assistants and other personnel.

“Our government continues to partner with universities to support important research initiatives,” said Minister Bartolucci. “I am very pleased that the NOHFC could invest in this Research Chair that will further help establish Laurentian University and Northern Ontario as a leading centre in occupational health and safety.”

Read more

NEWS RELEASE: VALE INVESTS IN LAURENTIAN UNIVERSITY’S CENTRE FOR RESEARCH IN OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH

Company commits $125,000 towards a Health and Safety Research Chair at Laurentian

SUDBURY, ON (DECEMBER 7th, 2012) – Vale representatives presented Dr. Tammy Eger, associate professor at the School of Human Kinetics and current CROSH director, with a cheque for $125,000 at the 3rd Annual Centre for Research in Occupational Safety and Health (CROSH) Community Symposium. The funds will be used to aid in the establishment of a permanent Research Chair in Occupational Health and Safety, a key priority in the Centre’s growth plan.

“This is a proud day for CROSH,” said Dr. Eger. “We’ve come a long way in the past four years, and this donation will bring us closer to achieving one of our most important objectives. The creation of a Research Chair in Occupational Health and Safety will provide the leadership needed to build upon CROSH’s successes and expand its vision and influence.”

Officially approved by Laurentian University’s Senate in 2008, CROSH is a multidisciplinary group of researchers, guided by an advisory board comprised of representatives from labour, industry and local health and safety organizations, who engage in innovative studies aimed at identifying health and safety concerns and eliminating hazards and occupational disease from workplaces around the North.

Once full-funding for the position has been secured, the Research Chair in Occupational Health and Safety will drive innovative research that will establish the Centre as a national and international trendsetter in occupational health and safety research, development, education, training, and global best practices.

Read more

SAMSSA ‘a cheerleader’ for [Sudbury Laurentian] mining school – by Heidi Ulrichsen (Sudbury Northern Life – December 5, 2012)

http://www.northernlife.ca/

LU prez promises to meet industry’s needs

Three years ago, Laurentian University president Dominic Giroux and Sudbury Area Mining Supply and Service Association (SAMSSA) executive director Dick DeStefano sat down for what was to be a fateful drink together.

“(DeStefano) challenged me,” Giroux said, speaking before about 150 SAMSSA members gathered for the organization’s annual general meeting Dec. 4.

“He said, ‘Dominic, you have great programs, but Laurentian University needs to step up its game. You need to create a school of mines. You need to be more active in the cluster, and allow the cluster to be more vibrant.’

“My answer to Dick was ‘For crying out loud, I have a record deficit. Give me a year or two to settle the place, secure a school of architecture, and then we’ll get talking.’” Since that time, DeStefano has been “very supportive,” he said, but also kept his “feet close to the fire, on occasion.”

Laurentian announced the creation of its school of mines in June. Then in October, it revealed Dundee Corporation CEO Ned Goodman was lending has name to the school of mines and donating a significant amount of money, although the exact amount has been kept confidential.

Read more

[Sudbury] LU poised to supply industry – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – December 5, 2012)

The Sudbury Star is the City of Greater Sudbury’s daily newspaper.

Laurentian University’s Goodman School of Mines will be well-positioned to capitalize on the fact 40% of Canadian mining employees are due to retire in the next few years. The industry will be looking to recruit 60,000 to 100,000 people, many with university degrees, to fill the gap left by retiring Baby Boomers.

Laurentian president Dominic Giroux said the Goodman School of Mines won’t be a mining research institute because those already exist in Sudbury and they’re doing excellent work.

The school will instead educate students in engineering and earth sciences, and provide executive and management training for graduates and people now in the mining workforce.

Giroux spoke to about 140 people in mining and miningrelated businesses and institutions Tuesday morning at the annual general meeting of the Sudbury Area Mining Supply and Ser vices Association (SAMSSA).

The university president said the idea for the school originated from a conversation with SAMSSA executive director Dick DeStefano, and its focus came from businesses such as those attending the meeting at College Boreal.

Read more

Let’s hear from some 2012 So You Think You Know Mining winners

This article was provided by the Ontario Mining Association (OMA), an organization that was established in 1920 to represent the mining industry of the province.

Now that the Ontario Mining Association has launched season five of its high school video competition So You Think You Know Mining, perhaps it is a good time to hear from some of the winners from season four. These students who received their awards in June 2012 at the SYTYKM awards ceremony at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto are a talented and creative group of young people who are moving forward with their education and their careers. They have benefited from participation in this OMA film making initiative. Let’s see what some of them have to say about SYTYKM.

Hananeel Robertson from Don Mills C.I. in Toronto won the Best Writing Award for “OMG! Ontario Mining Girls.” “When the project was introduced to my class, the word mining just threw me off completely but when I started doing research, I was blown away. Not only did I learn from making my video but from watching others,” she said. “The whole contest opened my eyes to realizing that the necessities in our everyday lives would not be available to us without mining.”

“Winning means the world to me and it has definitely been one of the best experiences of my life,” said Hananeel. She is using her award money to help cover tuition at the University of Ottawa, where she is majoring in Communications. “I am not quite sure what exactly I want my career to be but I am leaning towards the media or public relations,” she said. “Who knows? Maybe I’ll end up in the mining industry.”

Read more

Ontario Mining Association education and outreach initiatives build on past efforts

This article was provided by the Ontario Mining Association (OMA), an organization that was established in 1920 to represent the mining industry of the province.

The Ontario Mining Association was a major participant in an explore mining and forestry career night held earlier this month at Mohawk College in Hamilton, which attracted more than 100 students. Lesley Hymers, OMA Environment and Education Specialist, and Bryan Wilson from Xstrata Nickel in Sudbury carried the message for the mining side. Representatives from the Canadian Institute of Forestry, Resolute Forest Products and the Forest Products Association of Canada were on hand speaking about their component of Canada’s resource sector at the community college.

The event was organized by Richard Borger, an elementary school teacher and part-time professor in the engineering technology program at Mohawk College. He became acquainted with the OMA, while in the role of student, during the third annual Teachers’ Mining Tour earlier this year. Mr. Wilson has been an active and key participant in all three of these teachers’ tours, which have taken place, so far, through facilitating tours of Xstrata Nickel’s Nickel Rim South Mine in Sudbury.

“It is important for us to establish links with educators across the province and to work to strengthen and build upon those links,” said Ms Hymers. “It is also vital that we take advantage of opportunities to make students more aware of the tremendous variety and scope of career options that our industry offers.”

Read more

[Mining] Co-op students get a head start – by Norm Tollinsky (Sudbury Mining Solutions Journal – November 2012)

Sudbury Mining Solutions Journal is a magazine that showcases the mining expertise of North Bay, Timmins and Sudbury. 

Mining engineering students graduate debt-free with 20 months of experience

A co-op program for students at Laurentian University’s Bharti School of Engineering is a win-win proposition for both participating students and the mining companies that hire them.

Fourth year mining engineering students James Gagner and Ian Berdusco, for example, will graduate debt-free in April with 20 months of work experience under their belts, making them ideal candidates for mining companies looking for engineering talent.

Approximately 50 of the 457 students enrolled in the Bharti School of Engineering are accepted into the co-op program.

They do a four-month placement following the successful completion of second year and a 16-month placement after third year, following which they return to Laurentian for the fourth and final year of the program.

It takes them one year longer to get their degree, but the money they make goes a long way toward paying their tuition while the experience they gain makes them more marketable.

Read more

School of Mines adds value to mining cluster – by Dick Destefano (Sudbury Mining Solutions Journal – November 2012)

Dick DeStefano is the Executive Director of Sudbury Area Mining Supply and Service Association (SAMSSA).destefan@isys.ca This column was originally published in the November 2012 issue of Sudbury Mining Solutions Journal.

October 15, 2012 was a special day for Northern Ontario and mining. On this day, Ned Goodman, CEO of Dundee Corporation, and the Goodman Family Foundation announced an historic gift to Laurentian University’s new School of Mines.

Laurentian University president Dominic Giroux also announced that the university will name the school in honour of the Goodman family. This announcement stems from early meetings I had on behalf of SAMSSA with president Giroux in the first weeks of his appointment about three years ago.

I suggested that one of the missing components of the Northern Ontario mining cluster was a comprehensive academic centre that would add value to mining and supply and service companies regionally and gradually become a global centre of all things mining.

Many internal meetings at Laurentian and public consultations with the industry led to the October 15th announcement.

I agree with Ned Goodman’s comment at the announcement when he stated, “Greater Sudbury has the best orebody and largest concentration of expertise in mining supply, products and services in the world. We want to be associated with Laurentian University because it’s undoubtedly the go-to for university for mineral exploration and mining in Canada.”

Read more

Mining brains – by David Robinson (Sudbury Mining Solutions Journal – November 2012)

Dr. David Robinson is an economist at Laurentian University in Sudbury, Canada. His column is from Sudbury Mining Solutions Journal a magazine that showcases the mining expertise of North Bay, Timmins and Sudbury.  drobinson@laurentian.ca

Question: What does the mining industry have in common with the zombie apocalypse?

Answer: Mining companies and zombies both have an insatiable appetite for brains. And who supplies the brains? That is the interesting question for the mining supply sector.

An industry that depends on increasingly sophisticated geological science, ever more complex equipment, more expensive transportation systems and more elaborate management systems while trying to meet ever more convoluted environmental and safety regulations clearly needs brains.

The muscle-power going into an ounce of gold or a kilogram of nickel has gone down. The energy input per unit output has risen, which is a growing problem. And no one knows if more brainpower is invested in an ounce of gold today than in an ounce from the Klondike gold rush 115 years ago.

Calculating a brain-to-gold index would be interesting, but it isn’t necessary. Brainpower has always been an essential input for the mining industry.

Read more

Speaking notes for the Honourable Julian Fantino Minister of International Cooperation for the Economic Club of Canada ‘Reducing Poverty – Building Tomorrow’s Markets’

November 23, 2012, Toronto, Ontario

Good morning.

It has now been a few months since Prime Minister Harper asked me to be the Minister of International Cooperation, and I am enjoying the job immensely. It is a great honour and a privilege.

As you can imagine, it has been a busy time for me and a fascinating experience seeing international development work first-hand, as Canada continues to respond to situations around the world.

In my brief experience, it is clear that Canada is respected on the world stage for the work the Canadian International Development Agency does. You may know that my previous professional life was in law enforcement, spending the latter part of my career as an executive within various police departments.

However, as the Ontario Commissioner of Emergency Management and more recently, as Associate Minister of National Defence, I have had the opportunity to see CIDA’s work with my own eyes.

On a trip to Afghanistan as Associate Minister of Defence, I saw young Afghan girls heading to school, wearing their backpacks. And it reminded me of my own grandchildren. I was impressed then, and I remain so, knowing that these girls were going to school because of the assistance Canada provided.

Read more

NEWS RELEASE: UBC, SFU to further global sustainable mining practices through $25M Institute

Media Release | Nov. 23, 2012

The University of British Columbia and Simon Fraser University will lead an international coalition to help developing countries benefit from their natural resources in environmentally and socially responsible ways.

The establishment of the Canadian International Institute for Extractive Industries and Development (CIIEID), funded by a $25-million grant from the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), was announced last October with an aim to sharing Canadian expertise in extractive industries. The selection of UBC and SFU to operate the Institute was announced today by the Honourable Julian Fantino, Minister of International Cooperation.

In 2008 alone, exports of oil and minerals from Africa, Asia, and Central America were valued at $1-trillion. Canadian companies, many headquartered in Vancouver, B.C., dominate the world’s mineral exploration and Canada relies heavily on its resource industries.

UBC’s research and education in the extractive sector spans nearly a century, with a strong emphasis over the past decade placed on sustainable development and corporate social responsibility through its Norman B. Keevil Institute of Mining Engineering. SFU’s Beedie School of Business offers Canada’s longest-standing Executive MBA program for sustainable mining, and houses the Responsible Minerals Sector Initiative, fostering global dialogue for the extractive sector.

Read more