Commentary: HR challenges in exploration

The federal government-funded Mining Industry Human Resources Council (MiHR) and the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) have released a report that analyzes the labour market for mineral exploration in Canada and the human resource challenges facing the
sector.

Titled “Unearthing Possibilities: Human Resources Challenges and Opportunities
in the Canadian Mineral Exploration Sector,” and available at www.mihr.ca and
www.pdac.ca, the report makes the following observations, in this edited excerpt:

Aging workforce: Despite the younger age profile of the mineral exploration sector, some occupations will face problems because they will have many younger workers and older workers, but few in the middle.

As older workers retire in the affected occupations, finding qualified people for senior-level positions will become increasingly difficult.

Unaware: The study revealed a lack of awareness in career opportunities for exploration. Many participants reported not being exposed to geology or geosciences until secondary school, when many students have already made career plans.

Participants agreed that middle-school students are an ideal age group for exposure to mineral exploration, because they are open-minded and are beginning to consider career options.

Women and aboriginals: While  women are under-represented in exploration and mining — women make up 20% of the exploration sector and 14% in mining — the study reveals a trend of mid-career attrition by women in exploration.

Martha Roberts, MiHR’s director of research, suggests this trend is linked to fieldwork and highlights that partnerships with geosciences groups are needed to conduct further research on women in geosciences positions to better understand any specific challenges and issues they may face. 

The study revealed that the exploration sector underperforms the mining sector and the rest of the labour market in employment of Aboriginal peoples.

The mining industry, including exploration, is the number-one employer of Aboriginal people in Canada, with 6.8% Aboriginal representation, compared to 3.2% in the labour force. However, only 2.1% of the full exploration workforce is Aboriginal.

Exploration activities are often located close to Aboriginal communities, and the sector employs a large portion of highly educated professionals who make up over 75% of the workforce, making it uniquely positioned to grow the Aboriginal talent pool and support opportunities for higher education of Aboriginal peoples.

Education and training: The exploration sector’s educational requirements are high and still increasing, which reduces worker mobility from other occupations and industries.

Future labour shortages will need to be alleviated by attracting more skilled immigrants and increasing enrollment in post-secondary programs geared towards the sector’s needs.

Lack of field experience was also identified as a roadblock to employment. In light of this, working to build and strengthen direct links between industry and education and identifying solutions to logistical barriers will be instrumental in creating opportunities for career seekers, to gain valuable experience through summer jobs, fieldwork as part of a course laboratory and co-op programs.

The future: In the mineral exploration sector, there are over 3,500 companies and 95% of employers are micro and small establishments, while the mining sector tends to hold a few large, multinational employers.

As a result, the approach to researching, identifying and providing support for human resource challenges and opportunities differs greatly between the sectors.