Northwest Community College’s (NWCC) School of Exploration & Mining (SEM) will offer a core technician course in Terrace for the first time next month with the help of a local company.
ALS Chemex, the minerals division of parent company ALS Laboratory Group, will host SEM’s 6-day Drill Core Technician program at its facilities during the second week of March.
SEM is based at NWCC Smithers Campus and delivers courses throughout the Northwest and beyond. Until now, the drill core technician course has only been delivered in Smithers as local industry facilities there were able to provide access to high-tech core splitting and sawing equipment, and field trips to active drill sites.
“We are excited to have the support of ALS Laboratories to offer this training out of Terrace,” says NWCC SEM Director Robin Curry. “This opportunity builds on our practice of delivering training throughout the North in partnership with industry. These partnerships greatly benefit graduates, who are usually able to find employment as a result, and the exploration and mining sector, which is in need of qualified workers.”
“It’s great to be involved with such an important part of the mining industry,” ALS Manager David Rootham. “We look forward to working with NWCC on such worthwhile and much needed training initiatives.”
NWCC’s Drill Core Technician course teaches practical skills required to observe, measure and record information from diamond drill core. Within a year of finishing the course, 70% of past Drill Core Technician graduates available for survey found core tech-related employment.
2009 graduate Roger Sullivan of Prince George, for example, found full-time work at Huckleberry Mines.
“I recommend this program to anyone interested in becoming a geo-tech in mining and mineral exploration,” he says.
“The instructors have a great deal of knowledge and experience directly related to the course material and intended job goals. The work is good, interesting and highly valued by geologists and employers.”
ALS Chemex opened a preparation facility in Terrace in 2007 to bring its services closer to the highly active mining region of Northwestern BC. The laboratory prepares samples then ships them to a North Vancouver facility for analysis.
Over the years, many companies have helped SEM’s Drill Core Technician courses succeed by donating space, materials, and/or hosting students on site visits. These include Metal Mountain Resources (formerly Eagle Peak Resources), Rugged Edge Holdings, Bard Ventures, SGS Minerals Services (formerly Assayers Canada), ACME Analytical Labs, Barrick Gold, CJL Enterprises, Golder Associates, Huckleberry Mines and Treeline Wood Products.
To register for the Drill Core Technician course, please contact SEM’s Industry Liaison Program Officer Rob Maurer at rmaurer@nwcc.bc.ca or 1.877.277.2288 Ext. 5831.
Hey..It is great..Anyway since it is in terrace you dont get bored of teaching..
Posted by: Diamond Drill Bits | 10/28/2011 at 05:15 AM