SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Two Yellowknife residents were among the dozen Mine Training Society students who graduated from the society's flagship Underground Miner Training Program earlier this week.

Merlanda Chille of Yellowknife stands proudly under a banner announcing the graduation of her class of 12 students from the Mine Training Society's Underground Miner Training Society on Monday. - Guy Quenneville/NNSL photo

On Monday afternoon, staff with the society and its training partner, Aurora College, assembled with the students' friends and family members at the college's North Slave Trades and Technical Centre.

There, the students - who also hail from Behchoko, Hay River, Whati, Fort Providence and Fort Simpson - gathered one last time before beginning multi-week traineeships at the territory's three diamond mines.

Merlanda Chille of Yellowknife already knew where she wanted to go: De Beers's Snap Lake diamond mine.

"That's the one I want to go to because I have a lot of friends and family there, and I've been there before," said Chille. "They've got a new accommodations going up, too. Everybody's moving into there next week. I want to be a part of that."

The Underground Miner Training Program begins with a six-week community-based Introduction to Mining program, which is followed by 12 weeks of hands-on training using an underground mining simulator at the college.

"It's like playing a big video game," said Chille of the simulator.

Jonathan Squirrel, who moved to Yellowknife from Fort Simpson a year and a half ago, was also a fan of the simulator.

"The base sort of pivots, so when you're driving over a rock, the thing pivots with it," he said.

Several students, including Chille, were scheduled to interview for traineeships with De Beers on Tuesday.

For Chille, who has two young daughters to support, getting a higher-paying job than housekeeping is a crucial driver.

"That's what got me here. I don't want to be up there doing that anymore; I wanted to get right into the mining industry."

Dan Daniels, the GNWT's deputy minister of education, culture and employment, said the students are entering the underground mining industry at a crucial time.

"Underground mining is becoming more and more the way that mines are going to be operating in the Northwest Territories, so the skills that you've acquired and that you'll be bringing into the workforce are vital for the success of the mines," said Daniels. "Of course, the success of the mines is crucial to the success of the Northwest Territories."

Snap Lake opened as Canada's first fully underground diamond mine - and the NWT's first underground diamond mine, period - in 2008.

Rio Tinto's Diavik Diamond Mine is slated to become a full underground operation in 2012; BHP Billiton's Ekati Diamond Mine is host to two active open pit mines and two active underground projects.

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