Saskatchewan Mining Week: celebrating 50 years
- Tiffany Head | May 25, 2015
It is the golden anniversary of the 2015 Mining week in Saskatchewan, and to commemorate the special occasion, the Saskatchewan Mining Association has released a book called “Fertile ground: The First 50 Years,” which fits the mining week theme, ‘Mining – Fertile ground for Saskatchewan.’
“The title is chosen because it embodies many aspects of the Saskatchewan mining and exploration industry,” said Neil McMillian, President of the Saskatchewan Mining Association and a chairman for Cameco. “Mining has historically provided and continues to provide fertile soil to produce diverse opportunities,” he added.
Saskatchewan has much to celebrate as it has made mining in Saskatchewan number 1 in Canada and number 2 in the world. It bodes well for the economy and for all Saskatchewan people, as the province is most attractive for investments and makes the province one of the world’s strongest and most resilient markets.
In March 2015, the Mosaic company had announced that it would spend $1.7 billion to expand their K3 potash mine near Esterhazy, which created abundant employment opportunities for skilled tradesmen. Also quite recently, Cameco’s sale of uranium to the India market for about 3,000 tons brought in $350 million worth of economic activity.
The honourable Bill Boyd, Minister of the Economy, foresees a bright future for uranium mining in Saskatchewan.
“I expect we will see the uranium industry continue to expand and hire more people and there will be more spin off businesses,” said Boyd.
First Nations people also have a key role in the mining sector and contribute in this success; they have numerous opportunities for employment.
Cameco has a very admirable record when it comes to hiring First Nations people, not just in terms of employment but in terms of other spin off business.
McMillan expressed that there is a need for a skilled work force and there is great potential coming from First Nation communities, which have great demographics where half the population is under 18.
One of their objectives is education outreach and to provide scholarships and educational aids to students in order to insure that they have the tools necessary to enter the mining sector.
“One of our six objectives as a SMA is to expand the role in the Aboriginal community of mining in the province, and we take that every executive meeting, how we are doing. We look at programs and what we can do to enhance them,” said McMillan.
The SMA has many events planned during the week of May 24-30 across the province to celebrate Mining week.
Check out more stories on Saskatchewan Mining Week, such as:
- Opinion: How the mining lobby can influence Aboriginal affairs
- Room at Saskatoon's Ronald McDonald House named after late northern man
- Mining careers: not just moving (or mining) rocks
- Opinion: Developing the road to Aboriginal prosperity
- Companies expect suppliers to have Aboriginal strategy
- Whitecap Industrial Services: a partnership of resource service providers
- Northern leaders and Cameco share success in Ottawa
- Event celebrated students in mining readiness program
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