Youth get inside look at mining
Students take part in two-day course on rocks and minerals
Stewart Burnett
Northern News Services
Monday, September 21, 2015
IQALUIT
Mining presents lucrative employment opportunities for Nunavummiut youth and demystifying the industry is the goal of Mining Matters, an organization that's touring Baffin Island to teach students about rocks and minerals.
"We teach mineral identification, rock identification and how these things are used in our products," said Barbara Green Parker, manager of aboriginal education and outreach programs with Mining Matters.
"We also branch out and talk about the careers that are available. It's a high-paid sector within the economy. It's very important to us as Canadians. We have a very rich land."
She was speaking during a break in two days of classes in Iqaluit.
Parker had just been in Hall Beach, and in past years she's toured all of Nunavut and the country teaching these classes. She said uptake of the information is especially high in the territory.
"The youth are very interested to know there are these opportunities on their doorstep," said Parker. "Throughout Canada, we find that a lot of people don't understand these opportunities are available to them, oftentimes in their backyard, that they had never considered."
In Hall Beach, Parker taught students how to use a compass to find direction out on the land.
"The kids were just loving it," she said. "They start to associate that being out on the land and having these skills is useful for them both in their everyday life and if they want to take these skills and get a job in the industry."
Robert Barnett, training and development manager with Baffinland Iron Mines, said demystifying the industry is important.
"It's something that's a little more responsible than maybe they think it is, in terms of the environment," said Barnett, adding that mining companies are looking at mine lives more than 120 years long.
"We're not in here just to dig a hole and run away."
Work safety, environmental responsibility and all the different products that mining has a hand in making featured heavily in the course's demonstrations.
Students made amethyst necklaces, practised soapstone carving, identified minerals and more.
Mining Matters started in Hall Beach and will be touring Baffin Island communities this month, including stops in Pond Inlet, Arctic Bay, Clyde River and Iglulik.
