The Canadian Mining Industry is in the early stages of recovering from an extended downturn. While companies are optimistic about their prospects, many will soon face a new challenge; the looming retirement crisis. The MiHR (Mining Industry Human Resources Council) forecasts more than 51,000 retirements from the sector by 2025, representing over 25% of the industry’s current workforce. The projected workforce shortage represents an enormous gap to fill in a short time-frame, magnified by the fact that the mining industry will not only be losing employees, but also a wealth of knowledge and experience.

Compounding the problem is the fact that this skills shortage coincides with an expected return to stronger commodity prices, and the industry is projecting a forecasted need of 106,000 new workers by 2025 simply to meet baseline production targets.

Beyond simple numbers, the Canadian workforce is becoming increasingly diversified; an upwards trend that has not been duplicated within the mining industry. Identifying skilled labour to fill these positions will be a huge challenge – but one opportunity to narrow the gap in human resources will be to target traditionally under-represented groups, such as women and immigrant workers. Actively engaging these groups in mining employment and education initiatives will be a key factor in counterbalancing the coming retirement problem, and represents an opportunity to change the industry landscape by bringing in new ways of thinking, as well as a cultural perspective for a global industry.

Source: Queen’s University website, Bachelor in Engineering. Read full article