Northwest Community College’s (NWCC) School ofExploration & Mining will offer a core technician course inTerrace for the first time next month with the help of a local company. ALS Chemex, the minerals division of parent company ALS LaboratoryGroup, will host a 6-day drill core technician program at itsfacilities during the second week of March. The school is based at NWCC in Smithers and delivers courses throughoutthe northwest and beyond. Until now, the drill core technician coursehas only been delivered in Smithers as local industry facilities therewere able to provide access to high-tech core splitting and sawingequipment, and field trips to active drill sites. “We are excited to have the support of ALS Laboratories to offer thistraining out of Terrace,” says mining school director Robin Curry. “Thisopportunity builds on our practice of delivering training throughout theNorth in partnership with industry. These partnerships greatly benefitgraduates, who are usually able to find employment as a result, and theexploration and mining sector, which is in need of qualified workers.”“It’s great to be involved with such an important part of themining industry,” ALS Manager David Rootham. “We look forward toworking with NWCC on such worthwhile and much needed traininginitiatives.” The technician course teaches practical skills requiredto observe, measure and record information from diamond drill core.
Within a year of finishing the course, 70 per cent of past techniciangraduates available for survey found core tech-related employment.
