The city of Dubbo in New South Wales, Australia, has made a bid for a mining school in the area, Australian Mining reports.

The Centre for Sustainable Mining Practices would ultimately be a $20 million investment and the city’s initial $7 million bid has already been lodged with the federal government, according to the Daily Liberal. The Centre would use virtual technology to train students and John Walkom, chairman of the Orana regional Development Australia branch said the city would be an ideal location.

The Timmins Times reports Goldcorp Porcupine Gold Mines and Northern College have teamed up to offer the Basic Underground Hardrock Miner Common Core training program at Goldcorp's Holye Pond Mine. This new initiative could ease the demand for miners in hardrock underground mining and help with the current skills shortage.

"This is going to create a situation where we can train our next group of employees, our next group of miners," adding that they'll not only learn how to do their jobs, but how to do them safety so they can go home at the end of the day, said Rick Blakey, [the superintendent for Goldcorp's Hoyle Pond underground operation].

Leanne Bellegarde, lawyer, member of the Kawacatoose First Nation in Saskatchewan, and director of aboriginal strategy for Potash Corp of Saskatchewan Ltd., argues that in order to take advantage of the large aboriginal population in Saskatchewan looking for work, mining companies must recognize the needs of their potential employees and engage them in such a way that they develop into suitable workers.

“It would be really easy to say that we have hundreds of jobs, please apply, and walk away,” says Ms. Bellegarde. “It’s another to ask, ‘How many people do you have in your communities . . . and what do we need to work with you to ensure that they will be qualified applicants?’ ... That’s the conversation we get into.”

Mining Weekly reports that the Western Australian Chamber of Minerals and Energy (CME), the Queensland Resources Council (QRC), and the national industry skills council, SkillsDMC, have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to identify strategies to source skills for the Australian mining industry over the next three years.

In a joint statement, the three parties said on Tuesday that the projects under the MoU included defining and implementing a national skills policy for the resources sector, providing workforce planning data, brokering funds to support skills objectives, and establishing lead agencies for projects to maximse the strength and opportunities provided by the partners.

Coal International reports: the 21st annual Pumpology® School was held by Thompson Pump & Manufacturing Co., Inc. this April in Port Orange, Florida.

The three-day workshop included training sessions for sales and service-oriented professionals on pumping fundamentals, dewatering and bypass applications, selecting the correct pumping equipment, designing, installing and maintaining pumping systems, troubleshooting, pump maintenance, and more.

The Research & Development Corporation of Newfoundland and Labrador (RDC) and the Iron Ore Company of Canada (IOC) has provided a grant to the Memorial University of Newfoundland that will be used to purchase a Field Emission Gun Scanning Electron Microscope with automated Mineral Liberation Analyses (MLA) software.

"The mineral industry is one of Newfoundland and Labrador's largest industries," noted Glenn Janes, Chief Executive Officer, RDC. "Today's investment marks an important milestone in mineral research and will ensure researchers have the technical and industrial equipment they need to bolster this province's mineral research strengths and contribute to mineral industry exploration and development," he said.

The Chronicle reports that 45 Ghanaian students have been offered a four-year apprenticeship program with Newmont Akyem. The apprenticeships will be undergone in the US, Ghana or South Africa.

These are initiatives by the company to help disabuse the notion that mining communities are poor, as the companies either did little, or not factor the development of the communities into their programmes.

GIW Industries is co-sponsoring a new web-based course on slurry pumping with the USF Polytechnic Florida Industry and Phosphate Research Institute. It consists of six modules covering Slurry Pumping Basics, Testing and Evaluation of Slurry, Cavitation, Modeling, Field Work and Maintenance.

The course will cover major findings of the FIPR Institute's slurry pumping research projects and builds on GIW's training and industrial experience with pump systems. Topics covered in the course are applicable to mine managers, engineers, pump designers, operators and maintenance technicians, enabling them to sharpen their skills and improve their technical competence.

A selection of underground and surface miners and mineral processing operators from Teck Resources Limited has received national certification through the Canadian Mining Credentials Program, developed by the Mining Industry Human Resources Council (MiHR) and members of the mining industry, the Kootenay News Advisor reports.

This is an historic event in Canadian mining because until now, unlike the trades, skilled workers in these occupations have never before been awarded an industry-recognized credential that supports mobility and retention within the mining workforce.