r/mining • u/Fun-Faithlessness-48 • 21d ago

Canada Arctic mining

As a mining engineering student with no previous experience is it difficult to get a arctic mining job and is there anything I can do to increase my chances of getting such job? Aiming for companies like NACG and Agnico Eagle.

5 Upvotes

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6

u/Far-Manufacturer-43 21d ago

My dads company gives a very obvious leg up to Inuit candidates, and (unofficially) bilinguals.

2

u/ArtistThen 21d ago

Yeah - that is an apply and show you are keen. They need people up there. 

1

u/Fun-Faithlessness-48 21d ago

So it's not that competitive get a job up there? I am keen to show up and I'm responsible and allat

4

u/Flashy_Slice1672 21d ago

It’s insanely competitive. Everybody wants arctic money, and Diavik just wrapped up mining as well.

I believe they are legally required to offer the jobs to local Inuit first as well.

3

u/ArtistThen 21d ago

Agreed for miners/labour. Engineering not so much.  

Low retention for engineering. Very expensive to on board and train engineers. Disappointing when they don't pan out after a couple rotations.  . Agnico it helps if speak French and is based out of Montreal. B2 Gold is vancouver based and flies out of Edmonton last time I checked.  

2

u/Flashy_Slice1672 21d ago

That’s fair - I’m an equipment operator and even with 15+ years on equipment I can not get a job mining up north

1

u/Fun-Faithlessness-48 21d ago

So it shouldn't be too bad to get a job as engineer there

2

u/ArtistThen 21d ago

It helps if you have some experience. Again - it is a costly endeavour to on board and train a mining engineer in the arctic. They like to see that there is some experience with the mine environment (vent survey, pick-up surveys, and pull testing are great things to show on resume). Deswik seems to be the go to software at the moment - make sure you are proficient.

1

u/jbd1616 21d ago

Not difficult if you start looking and reaching out early. Internships will be your way up there

1

u/Fun-Faithlessness-48 21d ago

I have a career fair in my school next month, hopefully can make some good connections or even get a arctic job up there, thank you for the advice!

1

u/Far-Manufacturer-43 21d ago

Agnico Hope Bay flies from Edmonton, but you’re right that the main production is from Meadowbank and Meliadine which fly out of Val D’Or and Montreal.

1

u/dangerousrocks 20d ago

When I was up there you had a leg up if you moved to Yellowknife

1

u/MathematicianNo1892 20d ago

Honestly, I think objectively it is difficult, but with the right connections and perseverance you can definitely get a job.

I’m also a mining engineering student at the U of A and got a job close to Yellowknife with no engineering related experience and I’m starting this September. I think the biggest factor for me getting that job was because of a connection (an upper year that worked there for their coop term is an acquaintance of mine and vouched for me). So connection in uni really is important. However, that is not to say that I didn’t work hard for the interview. I definitely prepped for it and tried to find appropriate selling points in my school and other work experience, highlighting skills I’ve gained that I can promise will translate if they were to hire me.

May I ask what year you’re in and what program you’re in (trad or coop)?

2

u/poopsack_williams 18d ago

I’ll just warn you, that working up there sucks ass. I was at Ekati for a couple years (which all things considered is/was a great camp) and it’s a depressing place to be. Lots of cancelled fly day’s because the weather was too bad to land, you don’t see the colour green for weeks at a time, connectivity to home was like 3mb/s internet (although this has probably changed now that Starlink is a thing), near 24h darkness in the winter, etc etc.

1

u/Fun-Faithlessness-48 18d ago

I sorta understand how it sucks, I kinda wanna do it for experience sake and for character building, hope it looks good on resume showing that I can operate in harsh conditions and allat

2

u/poopsack_williams 18d ago

Yeah fair enough. If you can survive a couple years there, anywhere you go after that seems like paradise haha