Earlier this month, the MiHR (Mining Industry Human Resources Council) published the 2019 Canadian Mining Labour Market Outlook. The article explores the human resources trends in Canada’s mining industry. In short, the 2019 report shows that retirements are set to have a tremendous impact on the sector over the next decade, women continue to be underrepresented, and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) and mining engineering graduates will be in high demand in the market.

Key findings;

• Mining industry outlook is for careful economic recovery and growth, unemployment returned to historically low levels in 2018, and vacant job positions grew in 2020,
• Women continue to be underrepresented in the mining industry by 16 percent of the workforce, little change from 2015 census data,
• The industry is expected to need to hire approximately 90,560 workers over the next 9 years (2020 to 2029),
• Extended adoption of new technology in the mining industry has raised the demand for mining workers with specialized STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) skills,
• Undergraduate mining engineering program enrollment dropped 12 percent between 2015 and 2016, the largest decline of all engineering programs.

These trends may be slightly surprising to the mining industry recruitment agency. Already, we see them playing out here with an aging workforce and competition with the burgeoning technology sector for tech-savvy graduates, particularly in the Lower Mainland.

Innovators are Explorers

With the increased adoption of new technologies comes an increased demand for professionals able to operate equipment, interpret results, and manage systems and teams. The number of STEM-related occupations in mining — e.g. engineers, geoscientists, etc. knowledge systems specialists, technologists, technicians — increased from 14 percent to 18 percent between 2005 and 2015 and was hovering at 22 percent in 2018.

The demand for STEM specialists is most leading in mining recruitment companies, decreasing as the mine goes into production and non-STEM occupations become more noticeable.

“The proportion of workers in the mining industry is highest in exploration (40%), followed by extraction & milling (25%), primary metal manufacturing (10%), and support services (12%). The high share of STEM occupations in the exploration sub-sector reflects the importance of scientific and technical skills required in the mine discovery phase. The relative share of STEM skills decreases as the mine goes into production and non-STEM occupations become more prominent.”

This just proves what we have always known, that we scientists are the most innovative! But how will we assure the best and brightest new graduates to pursue careers in the Mining Industry?

Exploration has the highest percentage of women

Women make up 48 percent of the Canadian labor force and continue to be hugely underrepresented in mining, making up just 18 percent of the mining recruitment agencies, essentially stable from 2018. However, there are about twice as many women, by percentage, in exploration as there are in milling and manufacturing.

“In research, women make up 25 percent of all occupations and 20 percent of selected occupations in the mining sub-sector, making it the sub-sector with the highest representation of women in the mining industry.

“These are interesting rates, especially considering that higher shares of women may become self-sustaining after relinquishing a critical mass. Within this circumstances, the exploration sub-sector may be closer to a tipping point that could lead to unlocking the benefits of gender diversity.”

Get Started With A Career In Manufacturing

Looking to start a career in the mining sector? Learn how to land your dream job in the mining sector with Recruitment Agency. Now is the perfect time for your next career move. It’s an employee market right now and businesses are competing for better talent than ever before. For more manufacturing career advice, check out our Talon Recruiting.