College graduates driller helpers.

Northern College announced that the latest batch of surface diamond driller assistants graduated March 27 from the Kirkland Lake campus.

The college noted that students showed "exceptional resiliency" during a six-week period spent at the campus drill site working for extended periods in -40[degrees]C weather.

Three of the seven graduates are from Nibinamik First Nation, located in the Ring of Fire.

The 10-week program, offered through the college's Haileybury School of Mines, taught the graduates the skills required to work as a helper to a drill operator. Topics covered included working safely on and around a drill site, environmental protection, recovering and handling core samples, and operating heavy equipment on a functional drill site.

"By providing local residents with leading-edge training relevant to careers in the mining industry, we're helping them position themselves...