Retirees reap benefits of labour shortage (March 13, 2007)

Frank Visockas spent 30 years working at Incos Garson mine in Sudbury, but when it came time to retire five years ago, he found he wasnt interested in improving his golf game.

Was I ready to retire at 50? No, says Visockas. And there were good opportunities for making extra money.

With the commodity boom and a major labour shortage on the horizon, it didnt take long before Visockas found himself back underground. Now 55, hes working as a captain at Wesdomes Eagle River gold mine near Wawa, Ont., about 5 hours from Sudbury. He works 10 days on, 10 days off, and even though this means living away from home half the time, Visockas doesnt mind because the schedule in Sudbury was more demanding.

The world is driven by money, and mining companies hold a carrot in front of you, he says. The carrot at Wesdome was a better carrot.

But even the best carrots wont fill up to 80,000 jobs over the next 10 years. Thats why the Mining Industry Human Resources Council (MiHR) has recently received $2.5 million from the federal government for a 3-year program called the Mining Attraction Recruitment and Retention Strategy (MARS).

All levels and sectors in the industry are feeling the pinch. Theres a demand for skilled trades people, engineers and geologists.

We are at the very front end of the crisis, says Paul Hebert, executive director of MiHR.

Hebert says the shortage could mean the difference between new projects coming on line or not.

MiHR hopes to attract more women, aboriginals and new Canadians to the mining sector as well as educate kids’ as young as grade 3 about mining and the opportunities available to them.

Mining has an outdated view of being dirty, dangerous and low-paying work, says Hebert. The average wage in the industry as a whole is well over $1,000 per week.

The labour shortage is driven by two factors: the aging workforce and high commodity prices.

Production is already being affected by the shortage of workers as mining companies scramble to retain trained staff.

Wesdome Gold Mines fell behind on its 2006 production target at the Kiena gold mine in Val dOr, Que. because of a shortage of workers. Director of investor relations, Donovan Pollitt says its even worse for the companys Eagle River gold mine near Sudbury.

Everybodys like yay mining, yay mining, everythings great but one of the byproducts that youve got is recruiters in Sudbury going to kids’ soccer games telling peoples wives they shouldnt be working at a remote gold camp when they will match their income in Sudbury, Pollitt says.

Pollitt says salary structures have gone up 20% to 30% in the last few years just to retain people.

Its been quite drastic, he says.

While Visockas says he experienced some animosity for being a double dipper when he went back to work after retirement, Hebert says people with as much experience as Visockas are a part of MiHRs recruitment strategy.

Were trying to figure out how to bring back older workers, Hebert says. They are a huge loss of intellectual capital.

He says a pensioner that goes back to work now is definitely not taking away a job from a new entrant.

Training is costly and risky for mining companies, especially with the demand for skilled workers in todays market. Ron Price, Eagle River mine manager, says it costs about $90,000 per person, and with the high turnover lately, its a huge risk to train someone new.

Price says the MARS is a welcome initiative because Wesdome has tried its hand at training. The company spent $250,000 on a stope training course for 12 new employees but only one stayed to work for the company, quitting a year and a half later.

Its better to pay skilled people more, Price says.