NUNAVUT -
Baffinland Iron Mines said it should be able to draw enough people from the Qikiqtani region to work its $4.1 million Mary River iron ore mine once it becomes operational in 2014.
Baffinland says it will need a workforce of 2,700 people to construct the mine, with a peak on-site workforce of 1,800 people.
During mining, the company expects a total workforce between 650 and 700.
"Drawing upon a large population base, we're pretty hopeful we're going to have our needs fulfilled from the Qikiqtani region," said Rodney Cooper, vice-president of operations for Baffinland.
The Qikiqtani region includes the hamlets of Iglulik, Arctic Bay, Hall Beach, Clyde River, Iqaluit and Pond Inlet, the closest community to the project.
"The Qikiqtaaluk Corp., which provides employment (recruitment) services for Mary River, has a database of more than 800 people from those communities that have expressed an interest in Mary River," said Cooper. "Some of them are already trained, some of them are already working, others are just expressing an interest in training."
Baffinland signed a three-year memorandum of understanding May 31 with the Qikiqtani Inuit Association to develop training programs to equip Inuit people for a variety of jobs during the construction phase of Mary River, scheduled to begin in 2010 and last four years, and during the actual mining phase of the project.
"On a good day, the projected mine life for Mary River is set at 50 to 75 years, so this is a plan for several generations," said Brian McLeod, commissioned by the QIA to set up the agreement with Baffinland.
According to McLeod, there are 106 different jobs spanning a broad range of categories for which training could be provided, such as engineers, accountants, medics, environmental cleanup workers and mechanics.
The partners will seek funding from the Aboriginal Skills and Employment Partnership, a federal program aimed at providing training to aboriginal people to work in fields like mining, oil and gas, forestry and hydro development, added McLeod.
But the first step involves formulating an overall plan, said Cooper.
"We're going to form a steering committee to develop the programs," said Cooper. "We're trying to not limit the scope of what we could support. These could be college programs, university programs, trades programs. We're trying to touch on a very broad spectrum of skills that are needed in a mining operation."
The key to the initiative will be ensuring that successful candidates either complete their programs in time for construction or, if they don't finish before the 2010 start date, at least receive on-site training to complement their courses, said Cooper.
Most jobs will be transferable from construction to mining and advancement will be possible, he added.
"Some of the people working on-site have expressed an interest in being trained in other areas or trained in more advanced skills," said Cooper.
Eric Tikivik of Iqaluit, who currently works on-site at Mary River, said he hopes to take part in training for carpentry, a field he gained a lot of experience in before working for Baffinland.
"For my first four weeks, in February, I was a carpentry worker," said Tikivik of working at Mary River. "Then they put me on labour work - two weeks on, two weeks off - and that's what I'm doing now ... grabbing barrels and doing these odd jobs here and there.
"It's not really much of a challenge to me."
