Coquitlam, British Columbia, Canada – It’s not every day that the Pitt River Quarry has a full size tour bus roll through the Quarry. On Wednesday, February 8, 2012 Pitt River Quarry hosted a tour led by Jill Tsolinas, representing BC Mining HR Task Force with a group of students from Sir. Charles Tupper Senior Secondary School in Vancouver. The students were recipients of an award as part of a competition between four secondary classes.

The BC Mining HR Task Force launched a competition between four secondary classes in order to raise awareness and open dialog about mineral exploration and mining industry in British Columbia, as well as job opportunities in the industries. Four secondary school classes competed to see which class could dialog, or have the most posts on their blogs about the types of jobs in the mining industry. The winning class earned an all-expense paid field trip to see first-hand what jobs are available in their own back yard and how to receive training for
those jobs.
 
This award and day’s excursion was sponsored by Teck Resources (gold), Association for Mineral Exploration BC (silver), and the Aggregate Producer’s Association of B.C. (bronze); In-kind: IUOE, RTO, Lafarge.
 
Upon arriving on site at the Pitt River Quarry, on a full size tour bus, the students went in two different directions led by Troy Haggvist, Kelly Worth and Julia Marsden of Lafarge. One group went with Troy and Julia for a tour of the Quarry stopping at three different vantage points. The other group stayed in the classroom with Kelly to learn more about the day to day business at the Quarry along with various testimonies from staff of how they got to where they are today and the steps they took to get there.

A few of the students from Sir Charles Tupper reflected – “The coolest job is the master blaster”; “Practicing the digger on the simulator was so much fun….I’m going to have do more of that.”

“Our next generation of workers need to know about the 120+ career opportunities our industry has to offer. Lafarge exemplified a modern aggregate site with employees that were happy to be employed so close to a city and enjoyed their jobs. The tour of the site at Pitt Meadow Quarry showcased why mining is the safest heavy trade industry in British Columbia and a number of the unique jobs opportunities.” Jill Tsolinas, representing BC Mining HR Task Force.

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