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News Release
Human Resources Issues Threaten Canada’s Mineral Exploration Supremacy
Sept. 30, 2011 - Canada’s position
as the global leader in mineral exploration is at risk because of a
human resources triple threat, according to a study released today by
the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) and the
Mining Industry Human Resources (MiHR) Council.
Unearthing Possibilities: Human Resources Challenges and
Opportunities in the Canadian Mineral Exploration Sector says
Canada’s mineral exploration industry faces challenges on three critical
fronts: a lack of awareness about the exploration sector and its
many related career opportunities; a thinning labour pool that is
affecting companies’ recruitment efforts; and attrition that sees many
versatile, multi-skilled professionals leave the sector in mid-career.
“The worldwide demand for skilled labour in this sector is
constantly increasing and driving up the cost of human resources,” says
Dr. Scott Jobin-Bevans, PDAC president. “We have to work harder to
attract more Canadians to this industry.”
In an increasingly
globalized economy that prizes highly educated, multi-skilled workers,
Canada will continue to lose mineral exploration professionals and its
decades-long number one ranking in mineral exploration may quickly
change.
This sector is characterized as having high and
rising educational requirements. The proportion of the workforce
with a college or university degree has always been above average and
continues to increase. In fact, the number of workers with a
university degree across all sectors in Canada is approximately 22
percent. Among mineral exploration workers, 52 percent hold a
university degree and many have advanced secondary degrees.
PDAC
partnered with MiHR to develop Unearthing Possibilities, which
includes a series of recommendations.
To address the sector’s
awareness challenge, the report suggests that teachers, guidance
counsellors and school boards more actively promote exploration careers
while it also calls for developing an experiential-based, earth
science/geology curriculum for middle school students, “an ideal age
group for exposure to mineral exploration.”
To ease recruitment
issues, the report says industry and training institutions must better
communicate to help ensure that candidates are ready to work. The
report specifically cites the value of co-op programs, work placements
and mentorships in this area.
The study suggests that nearly
all mineral explorers seek five things in their employment: (1)
competitive compensation; (2) intellectual challenge and a job where
they can apply all their knowledge and use their skills; (3) training;
(4) advancement opportunities; and (5) independence. Companies that
integrate these motivators into job postings and offers will recruit
more successfully than those that do not.
The report does
however highlight specific areas for action. “This new information
provides industry and government with a starting point to better
understand where the opportunities are,” notes PDAC Executive Director
Ross Gallinger. “It is critical that industry, educators and government
work together to improve this situation.”
To read the complete
Unearthing Possibilities report, please go to
www.pdac.ca or
www.mihr.ca.
PDAC reaches out to elementary and high school students and educators
through PDAC Mining Matters, a charitable organization dedicated to
bringing the wonders of Canada’s geology and mineral resource endowment
into the classroom through the production and implementation of
educational resources.
It also hosts the annual Student-Industry
Mineral Exploration Workshop (S-IMEW), a two-week workshop that over the
past five years has provided more than 120 post-secondary students from
across Canada with an opportunity to gain first-hand experience of the
mineral exploration industry.
PDAC represents the Canadian
mineral exploration and development industry and has a strong interest
in the sector’s labour market issues. The association is best
known for its annual convention. Held every March in Toronto, it is the
world’s largest annual mineral industry conference and this year we had
more than 27,000 delegates – a new record – with representation from 120
countries.
Unearthing Possibilities -
Executive
Summary
Unearthing Possibilities –
Full Report
Découvrir Des Possibilités -
Le Rapport
Sommaire
Découvrir Des Possibilités -
Le Rapport
Complet
For a PDF copy of this news release
click here.
For more information, please contact:
Steve Virtue M.A.
Director, Communications
Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC)
416.362.1969
x225
svirtue@pdac.ca
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