College strikes gold in Ecuador: Confederation College to export training expertise.

• Author: Ross, Ian
• Position: MINING

Confederation College has a golden opportunity to make a lasting economic and social change in an emerging South American mining camp.

The Thunder Bay college has struck a training agreement involving Lundin Mining and Universidad Tecnica Particular de Loja to develop a workforce to support a major gold mine project now under development.

The agreement, more than two years in the making, was announced during Ecuador Day at the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) convention in March.

It's come full circle for Don Bernosky, Confederation's vice-president of regional workforce development.

Two years ago at the PDAC, he delivered a series of presentations to Ecuador government officials on the college's capabilities in mining and Aboriginal training.

Nothing seemed to come of it until Bernosky received an unexpected phone call from a government liaison last September.

"He called and said they were ready to roll."

The Lundin Group of companies had acquired the Fruta del Norte gold project from Kinross Gold, finalizing the sale in December for US$240 million.

The Canadian-Swedish miner wants to develop one of the world's largest undeveloped and highest-grade underground gold projects and put it into operation within two years.

The Universidad Tecnica Particular de Loja, the country's largest technical university, offers degree programs in geology, mining and environmental engineering, but nothing in the way of the larger skilled and semi-skilled technical workforce training for a mining operation, said Bernosky.

The university is building a training centre in the province of Zamora, close to where the mine is situated.

In Ecuador, the college intends to replicate their Ring of Fire Aboriginal Training Alliance (RoFATA), an industry and First Nation partnership that has produced 198 graduates in areas such as mining essentials, environmental monitoring, line cutting, remote camp cook, diamond drill helper and heavy equipment operator.

Bernosky hopes Ecuador proves to be a springboard to spin out programming across South America through classroom and distance training models.

"We want to establish a knowledge base for Latin America and distribute that learning to Peru, Chile, and other areas."

Ecuador was once regarded as a risky place to invest, but the country is making a concerted effort to lure miners back after a 2008 moratorium was placed on mining activity in order to redraft its mining laws.

The country has traditionally...