Canada’s Mining Industry In Shortage of Miners

With commodity prices rebounding from their lowest in at least 25 years, miners are stepping up spending and considering the reactivation of projects placed in the back burner, but there is a new looming risk they don’t seem ready to deal with — their ability to access workers with the skills needed in an upswing. That is the main conclusion of a recent report by Canada’s Mining Industry Human Resources Council (MiHR), which warns about the immediate consequences of the lack of recruitment over the past five years. In that period, Canada’s mining industry endured an economic downturn that continued throughout 2015. Due to this trend, a number of mining operations faced the decision to keep their operations running, but in less than optimal conditions. Others, particularly in the oil sands sector, simply scaled back production or shut down their operations, laying off hundreds of workers. As a consequence, mining employers face a cumulative hiring requirement of almost 86,000 workers under an industry contraction scenario, the report warns. The figure includes replacing about 49,000 workers over the next decade due to retirement.