Mining industry tackling skills shortage

The story is the same across the entire mining industry in Canada: a serious labour shortage. While Canada’s mining industry is growing, creating strong demand for workers, at the same time supply is constrained — owing to demographic factors, the lack of appeal of a mining career for young people, and difficulties in the accreditation of foreign-trained immigrants.

Ryan Montpellier, executive director of the Mining Industry Human Resources Council (MiHR), says the mining sector is facing a projected shortfall of 92,000 workers over the decade from 2007 to 2016. The MiHR, whose mandate is to identify and help solve the human resources issues facing the mining industry, says the shortage manifests itself throughout the occupational spectrum — labourers, skilled underground miners, electricians, mechanics, geologists, mining engineers. There are vacancies in all of these occupations.

And the industry is growing, says Montpellier, so more people are needed. Whereas employment in the mining industry stood at 143,000 in 2007, the industry is projected to have 170,000 positions by 2016. Furthermore, the existing workforce is aging, and there will be a wave of retirements. Montpellier says that as many as 40% of employees in the mining industry have said they want to retire within the next decade.

Contributing to the problem is the fact that the industry receives less than its fair share of Canada’s immigrants.

“The mining industry has not benefited from the immigration system in the last few decades,” Montpellier says.

There are a number of reasons for this, including barriers to the accreditation of foreign- trained professionals and skilled workers. Sometimes this is justified, as in the case of a person who is considered an engineer in his country of origin, but who has the skill set of a Canadian technician. However, there are cases where credentials of fully qualified immigrants are not recognized, and they end up driving the proverbial taxis, while mining-related positions remain unfilled. This happens because of a lack of a formal system of recognition of foreign credentials. On top of that, immigrants usually settle in the larger urban centres, far from mining districts.

There are other populations that are under-represented in the mining industry, such as women and aboriginals. Furthermore, youths who are choosing career paths often decide that mining is not for them, owing to stereotypes of the industry as unsexy and old-fashioned.

“In our surveys of youths around the country, the mining industry usually ranks dead last in career choice,” Montpellier says.

As if this were not enough, those who do finally graduate from mining engineering, geophysics or geology programs are often lured overseas with lucrative job offers, foreign employers having recognized Canadian qualifications in these disciplines as world-class.

The skills shortage is a serious issue, which cannot be allowed to constrain industry growth. Having considered this situation, the MiHR came up with a multi-pronged approach to address the problem. Firstly, the industry is looking into recruiting workers from industries where employment is falling, such as the forestry, automotive and manufacturing sectors, Montpellier says. Skilled workers from these industries, such as electricians, mechanics, technicians, technologists and engineers, can often be employed in mining with limited retraining.

The mining industry is also trying to promote itself to youths, aboriginals, women and new Canadians, so that they perceive mining as a viable career choice. To address these under-represented groups, the MiHR has developed a campaign around the brand “Explore for More,” and is using the website ACareerInMining. Ca to spread its message.

The industry would like to benefit more from skilled immigrants. However, Montpellier says that accreditation of foreign-trained professionals is a difficult problem with no quick fixes. There are some hopeful signs: a number of professional accreditation bodies are trying to put in place formal accreditation programs so that qualified immigrants can join Canada’s workforce.

Finally, Montpellier says that mining companies need to realize that everyone is looking for good people.

“It’s a global competition for skilled labour,” he says.

Canadian companies in other industries are also competing. Oilsands companies in Alberta, for example, have recruited mining engineers, further tightening the labour pool available to the minerals industry.