Newmont starts major job recruitment drive

This aerial view of the Newmont’s Doris North mine project near Cambridge Bay show what the mine site looked like earlier this year. (PHOTO COURTESY OF NEWMONT)

If you live in the Kitikmeot region of Nunavut, and you’re over 18, in good physical shape, can read and write, have no criminal record for violent crime, want to work and think you could handle a schedule involving three-week on-site rotations, Newmont Mining Corp. may have just the job in store for you.

From Nov. 13 to 18, Alex Buchan, Newmont’s manager for community and external relations, staff from the gold mining company’s human resources department and officials from Alberta’s Bow Valley College will tour the five Kitikmeot communities.

There, they’ll hold public meetings to talk about the jobs available at the Hope Bay mine, and some who leave these presentations still interested in working for Newmont will be asked to return for aptitude tests.

Newmont hopes to identify 500 to 600 people interested in working for mine and end up with a bank of a 100 or more solid candidates for jobs at its Doris North site and other Hope Bay properties, said Chris Hanks, Newmont’s director of environment and social responsibility, in a recent interview.

There are lots of jobs available, ranging from maintenance work to more specialized, skilled tasks like mill operation, he said.

This past summer, about 80 Inuit from the Kitikmeot worked at the Doris North mine, located 90 kilometres south of Cambridge Bay, putting the level of Inuit employment at 26 per cent.

Newmont, the second largest gold producer in the world, which bought the Doris North and two other properties at Hope Bay in 2007, wants to increase its Inuit employment.

A “Skills for Work Program,” a new Newmont-funded partnership between Newmont, Bow Valley College, Nunavut Arctic College and the Kitikmeot communities is set to start up shortly.

This program will offer a 16-weeks of instruction on literacy and other job-related skills, which will lead to at least eight apprenticeships at the mine.

Mill operator training is also available.

The training efforts are part of Newmont’s “Inuit talent pipeline approach” that aims to funnel top candidates into apprenticeships and traineeships at the mine.

There’s been some confusion about whether anyone who drinks or uses drugs should think of applying for jobs at Hope Bay.

But pre-job drug and alcohol testing is not part of the Newmont hiring process, Hanks said.

And it’s “not the plan” to introduce any drug or alcohol testing at Newmont’s operations in Canada, he said.

The Canadian Human Rights Commission’s policy on alcohol and drug testing says pre-employment drug or alcohol testing, random drug testing, and random alcohol testing of employees who are in safety-sensitive positions are not acceptable.

Canada’s Supreme Court has also ruled such testing goes against the protection of personal privacy guaranteed under Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Newmont does have a strict drugs and alcohol policy which means there are absolutely no drugs or alcohol on the site. Workplace safety is the major concern behind this policy, Hanks said.

“You can’t have someone who’s impaired [on the job],” Hanks said.

The quality of potential workers in the Kitikmeot is encouraging, Hanks said: many have already worked at other mine sites in the past.

Underground mining has already started up at Doris North where ore will be stockpiled all winter until the mill is fully operational, likely towards the end of 2011.

By this time next year, there could be as many 400 workers on site who will live at the 170-bed residence and in recently delivered hotel-like barges.

At the same time that the Doris North mine moves into operation, Newmont is looking ahead to “Phase Two” of ts Hope Bay mining project.

The target is to have all permits in place by 2014.

This expansion will require a new environment impact statement and a new Inuit impact and benefits agreement.

If all goes ahead as planned, underground and open pit mining will continue at Hope Bay until 2029.