The Northern Manitoba Mining Academy is in the midst of its busiest year to date, but one obstacle for students keeps popping up.
“Accommodations remain a pressing issue,” says Rob Penner, executive director of the Flin Flon-based NMMA.
Penner says the NMMA planned to offer an eight-week course starting this week, but most students were unable to find a place to stay.
“The program is now delayed to give the students more time to find suitable and affordable accommodations,” he says. “This might include, as it has in the past, hotels, the Friendship Centre [hostel], or friends [or] family in the region.”
The accommodation quandary is unsurprising considering that 35 per cent of NMMA students hail from outside Flin Flon, Creighton and Denare Beach.
The Manitoba government, which helped fund the NMMA, is aware of the problem, but so far no solutions have been announced.
In an interview earlier this month, Premier Greg Selinger said “consideration” has been given to “perhaps” utilizing the former Flin Flon Hotel – a short walk from the NMMA – for student housing.
Selinger made no commitment to this concept, however, while Penner says the NMMA board of directors is reviewing several potential options to mitigate the problem.
Despite this ongoing challenge, the NMMA is viewed as an attractive educational option for a growing number of students within and outside of the Flin Flon region.
In its first year of operations, 2012-13, the NMMA had 66 students, followed by 72 in 2013-14. Enrollment more than doubled, to about 155 students, in 2014-15, and Penner says numbers will be even higher in 2015-16.
Programs range in length from a single day to 12 or more weeks. Students learn about exploration, field skills and mechanical work, among others, and receive training in a high-tech underground mining simulator.
Penner is trying to negotiate a deal with one of the Manitoba universities for a shared position that would bring university-level programming to the NMMA.
“This will open up a number of possibilities,” he says, listing dual-credit courses and transition-type programming – assisting students to gain entry and advanced entry into university – as examples.
As it stands, the NMMA and its limited staff run programs in partnership with the Frontier (northern Manitoba) and Kelsey (The Pas) school divisions, and are in talks with Flin Flon division.
Penner says the academy is also part of the Northern Technical Vocational Consortium, which includes the Frontier, Kelsey and Flin Flon school divisions as well as divisions in Opaskwayak Cree Nation, Thompson and Swan River.
While the mining industry in Manitoba and around the world is in a slump, Penner is confident about the future of the NMMA.
“Our programming and services allow us to re-jig things to meet labour market needs,” he says. “[For example], exploration activity is slow right now, so we are focusing on prospecting rather than exploration – and our partnerships with other educational institutions allow us to continue to grow.”
