EDUCATION: First indigenous students graduate from Northern’s Common Core program

HAILEYBURY, Ontario - Northern College, in partnership with Wahgoshig First Nation and Primero Mining Corp. held a celebration in Wahgoshig First Nation on Friday, Dec. 18, for the first of two groups of indigenous students who graduated from the Haileybury School of Mines Underground Hard Rock Miner Common Core program. Successful graduates now have the basic knowledge and skills to become miners, working effectively and safely in the mining industry. The basic underground program includes 12 weeks of training delivered by Northern College at Primero’s Black Fox mine near Matheson, ON. The modular training program covered areas of competency as listed in the MTCU Modular Training Standards Certification Program. Participants also received an additional 10 days of soft skills and safety training to increase their marketability after the program. The five students graduating from this intake are excited about the new opportunities available to them. They learned to install ground support with a stopper, use a two-yard load-haul-dumper for mucking, drill the face with a jackleg, and load and tie in explosives in preparation for blasting. Two intakes of the basic underground hard rock miner Common Core program were funded by the Aboriginal Economic Development Fund. The skills acquired through this program will provide the participants with skills for jobs in the mining sector that may earn them $60,000 to $100,000 annually. For more information about the program, or to enroll, please contact Cora-Lee Morin, program assistant at Northern College, by phone at 705-235-3211 ext. 2174 or by email at morinco@northern.on.ca.