Teaching to the students

Continued....
OMA President Chris Hodgson is scheduled as the kick-off speaker for the opening night.  He will present information on the importance of mining in Ontario, industry support for the teachers’ tour and provide a glimpse of the potential and opportunity offered by the Ring of Fire area in the province.  The goal of the workshop is to help educators learn more about the realities of modern, high-tech, solution-providing, environmentally responsible mining in Ontario.

“Seeing is believing. This professional development opportunity presents informed choices for educators,” said George Flumerfelt, President of North Bay based mine contractor and OMA member Redpath.  “The Teachers’ Mining Tour brings modern mining into the classroom curricula.” 

“Mining is a sustainable activity.  The mining sector is environmentally responsible, safe and is a source of a wide array of jobs,” said Roy Slack, President of Cementation Canada, an OMA member and North Bay based mine contractor.  “Students and their teachers need to know more about the mining products that are part of our everyday lives.”

Lesley Hymers, OMA Environment and Education Specialist, will be supporting the Tour program and making presentations throughout the week on OMA education and outreach initiatives.  These include the OMA’s high school video competition So You Think You Know Mining, the OMA’s collaborative activities with Skills Canada Ontario, which promotes trades and technologies as career options for students and other organizations.

During the week, teachers will be exposed to Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada Mining Matters teaching kits and will learn about mineral exploration, mine development, geology and sectors of the economy supported by mining directly and indirectly.  Along with hands-on training through workshops, the teachers will have an opportunity to see mining in person.

Teachers will visit Xstrata Nickel’s Nickel Rim South Mine and Vale’s metallurgical complex in Sudbury and learn about technologies helping the environment.  They will also visit a number of mining manufacturing facilities in North Bay including Atlas Copco.

Supporters of the Teacher’s Mining Tour include the OMA and several of its member companies, the Canadian Institute of Mining’s Underground Mining Society, CIM Sudbury Branch, CIM North Bay (Gateway) Branch, the Sudbury and Area Mining Supply and Service Association and Ed Geo, an organization of the Canadian Federation of Earth Sciences that supports workshops for teachers. 

The CEC, which is located in Samuel de Champlain Provincial Park, is an environmental education institution delivering high school credits and school programs for students and teachers.  Teachers taking the mining course are able to earn a component of their Environmental Science Additional Qualification through Nipissing University and the Ontario College of Teachers. The OMA is pleased to play a role in this important program.