The College of New Caledonia’s Quesnel campus is now offering a Mining Industry Certificate Program for the first time.
The program was first offered at the Fort St. James campus in 2010 and was very successful.
The program was also offered in Burns Lake at the CNC Lakes District campus.
The new mining program is adapted from the Resource Industry Certificate.
“The Mining Industry Certificate (MINE) has been specifically identified as a mining program to develop both a locally relevant and a nationally adopted entry-level training program for the mining industry,” CNC project planner Gayle Campbell said.
“The MINE certificate endeavours to provide recognized industry standards in an entry level surface mineral and mining education program with the outcome leading to job ready individuals or readiness to enter into further technical training,” she added.
In June 2008, British Columbia’s Mineral Exploration and Mining Industry Human Resources Strategy 2009-2012 was released to address the labour shortage issue.
The CNC has 12 students enrolled in their MINE certificate program, which will teach students human relations, safe work practices, exploring mining opportunities, to name a few, all in the programs total 466 hours, earning students 18 credits.
This program could not come at a better time.
The mining industry is very prevalent in the province.
The projected new job openings through 2015 is 2,800 and an estimated 3,400 jobs will be due to retirements.
The program, which costs a bit more than $2,000 is aimed to provide students in the Cariboo certification to be employed at the more then 12 mining operations in the Cariboo region.
