CANADIAN IMMIGRATION NEWS

High-paid mining jobs go wanting

Monday, 30 April 2007

High-paid mining jobs go wanting

High-paid mining jobs go wanting Costs rise. Labour shortage leads to poaching of employees LYNN MOORE, The Gazette Published: Saturday, April 28, 2007 That loud sucking sound heard in the canyons of the mining sector is the vacuum created by a shortage of skilled labour. There are thousands of jobs on offer now and an estimated 80,000 jobs will be up for grabs within the next decade. The labour shortage has engendered employee poaching between companies, hefty bonuses and increasingly interesting job perks. View Larger Image The gold mining town of Val D'Or is experiencing a bit of a boom because of the quantities of gold and other precious minerals, as well as diamonds, in northern Quebec. Supervisor Andre Cormier (right) and scoop operator Louis Bernier discuss work temperatures two kilometres below the surface at Agnico-Eagle's LaRonde project. DAVE SIDAWAY GAZETTE FILE PHOTO Email to a friend Printer friendly Font: ****It has also generated rising operating costs for employers. The issue will be featured at a series of Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM) events that kick off in Montreal tomorrow. "It's really a good news story because it's about opportunity for a lot of Canadians, and opportunity over the long term for high-paying, highly skilled and very rewarding jobs," said Paul Hebert, executive director of the Mining Industry Human Resources Council. The average mining-sector salary in Canada for jobs up to the level of mine manager is about $70,000, he said. That doesn't include overtime or various bonuses, which can vary from 10 per cent to 100 per cent of the base salary. A Mining In Society trade show and career fair are the only events open to the public. Organizers hope to attract students as well as job seekers. The show, which features interactive and multimedia exhibitions, is designed to illustrate the width, breadth and sustainability of the mining industry of the 21st century, CIM executive director Jean Vavrek said. "Too few students choose mining engineering simply due to a lack of information," he said. About 37 companies, including SNC Lavalin, CVRD Inco Ltd. and DeBeers Canada Inc., have booths at the fair, Vavrek said. About 900 jobs are on offer by those companies, he said. Experienced mining professionals have their choice of job offers, said Yves Plouffe, a senior manager at Raymond Chabot Human Resources Inc. "There is such a scarcity of good candidates that each one could have two or three jobs," he said. And Canadian mining professionals who, along with their Australian counterparts, are considered the cream of the crop, are also sought by mining operations around the world. Not only do foreign postings pay about double the salary, companies are boosting perks to lure candidates, Plouffe said. A common ploy is to increase the number of free return air flights to Canada for employee or family members. Private schooling for children is another increasingly common perk, Plouffe said. The central event of the CIM conference and professional exhibition, which requires registration, is Monday's opening plenary session that will feature keynote speakers Thierry Vandal, CEO of Hydro-Quebec, and Jean Bernier, president of Ultramar. Forums include one that explores strategies to encourage more women to join the sector, hosted by experienced female miners. The Mining in Society trade show and career fair runs Sunday from noon to 5 p.m. and Monday and Tuesday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. It is at the Palais des congres. For more information about the CIM events, consult www.cim.org/montreal2007. lmoore@thegazette.canwest.com © The Gazette (Montreal) 2007