Kinross Gold will provide $625,000 over the next five year period in support of a Mine Health and Safety Professorship at Queens University, reports the Canadian Mining Journal.

The funding will support both undergraduate and graduate courses on mining health and safety; short courses on H&S for industrial practitioners; and development of educational materials.

The Kentucky Coal Academy and Workforce Solutions of Southeast Kentucky Community & Technical College are offering a free eight-week coal mining course in Cumberland, Kentucky, for miners to improve their skills, reports Kentucky.com. "It provides state-of-the-art training at no cost to the participant," [director of the Kentucky Coal Academy Murrel] Dixon said. "It should be of particular interest now because of current mine lay-offs. This is a good time for coal miners to come out, undergo quality technical training that will not only make them efficient in the mining industry, but in other areas."

The Zimbabwe Chamber of Mines (ZCM) President, Winston Chitando, says that Zimbabwe needs more women enrolling in mine training to balance the currently male-dominated industry, reports The Zimbabwean.

The Zimbabwe School of Mines says it is also making efforts to mainstream women in mining through trained-based affirmative action. "In particular, the institute has opened traditionally male-dominated technical careers such as mining engineering, geology and mineral processing to women with the aim to increase their participation in the mining sector," a senior official said.

On Thursday, the vice-chancellor of Eduardo Mondlane University in Mozambique announced three new courses on mining and oil exploration, and several new Master's programs, reports Club of Mozambique.

Vice-chancellor Orlando Quilambo said that Eduardo Mondlane University would this year teach courses in Cartography and Geological Surveying, Applied Geology, and Oil Engineering. “We signed a deal with an oil exploration company for joint training of around 200 students in this area by 2015,” Quilambo explained.

Algoma University and the Innovation Centre have been awarded a contract to develop an educational gaming portal for First Nations youth in Thunder Bay, with a focus on mining, reports The Sault Star.

The contract falls under the Algoma Games For Health program where a web based portal called learning 2 Mine will be created to provide social connectivity features, educational games, videos and documents for an Aboriginal post-secondary education and training institute.

An $800K underground mining simulator has been installed in Juneau in the University of Alaska Southeast - now the only school with an simulator of this kind in the United States, reports Juneau Empire.

The mining center had to look to South Africa for the technology as no outfit in the U.S. builds mining simulation of this sophistication. South African technicians traveled to Juneau to help shake out the bugs and train UAS mining instructors on the technology. The simulator, named Cybermine, was created by ThoroughTec Simulation based in South Africa. It will be used to prepare entry-level miners for hard rock mining jobs and to provide opportunity for seasoned miners to hone their skills.

The Wallarah 2 coal project, north of Sydney, Australia, will be drawing 70% of its workers from the local population and training them from scratch to work on the mine, reports Australian Mining.

In touting the economic benefit of the proposal near Wyong, [general manager Kerry] Heywood said a further 700 indirect jobs would be created on top of the mine's 300-strong workforce. "Importantly, these jobs will be well paid and provide opportunities for ongoing training and advancement which will give young people the opportunity to live and work on the Central Coast," he said.

The Australian Centre for Geomechanics is presenting a Hydro-Geology and Water Management in Open Pit Mining Seminar in Perth on June 19th, 2012. See MiningNews.net for more details. Hydrogeology and hydrology significantly affect pit design and open pit operations. Topics to be explored include: strategies for managing surface water runof, minimizing discharge from tailings dams and storm events, and taking care of haulroads.

The Australian Centre for Geomechanics is presenting a Ground Support in Mining (Introduction) Short Course in Perth, August 22 to 24th, 2012. See MiningNews.net for more details.

This basic level course has been developed to cover both the technical and practical aspects of ground support for open pit and underground metalliferous and coal mines.

Over the next twenty years, the Highland Valley Copper mine near Logan Lake is going to have more and more problems meeting an expected skills shortage due to 20% of its workforce retiring, reports Kamloops This Week.

PRWeb reports: Created in 2011, the Remember The Miners Scholars Program was created to provide financial aid to miners' families in West Virginia, and students in mining education. Applications are due March 1st!

“We’re making a final push to encourage our young miners and students interested in the mining industry to apply for this wonderful opportunity,” began Jason Parsons, Director of Remember The Miners. “Education is an important foundation for our future coal miners, and we’re proud to support them as they embark upon securing the future of coal.”

MiningNews.net reports: Resourceful Events is presenting a Mining 101 workshop in Perth on June 18th.

The Mining 101 workshop is an excellent introduction for companies looking to provide their services to the Mining Sector or for those embarking on careers within the mining sector - graduates, new recruits and associated sectors - the financial community, lawyers, PR companies, equipment manufacturers and service providers who would benefit from an overview of mining, and be in a better position as a result to develop more business opportunities.