REGINA — The Mosaic Company has made a big investment toward training what they hope will be the mining workforce of tomorrow.
At an announcement in Regina on Tuesday, Mosaic confirmed it is making a $4-million investment primarily focused on educational and training opportunities tied to its Esterhazy potash mine. The investment is being split among four organizations.
$1.5 million is going to Saskatchewan Polytechnic to enhance the industrial mechanic workshop at its new Joseph A. Remai Saskatoon campus and improve trade areas at the Moose Jaw campus.
Another $1.5 million is going to Suncrest College’s Esterhazy campus, which will expand its industrial mechanic millwright apprenticeship training. This upgrade will include advanced technology, state-of-the-art lab equipment and a dedicated instructor, according to Mosaic’s news release.
Good Spirit School Division is receiving $1.05 million to build a new practical and applied arts lab at Churchbridge High School, which will double the current program capacity. The goal is to accelerate the entry of those students into post-secondary programs.
Finally, Mosaic announced it is re-launching in February a potash mining readiness program focused on training Indigenous students for entry-level operations roles in Esterhazy.
The announcement stems from an urgent need for a talent pipeline to replace retiring workers in the coming years, particularly in the trades. Mosaic points to third-party reports from the Saskatchewan Mining Association and Deloitte, as well as its own hiring projections, as highlighting the need.
“Mosaic is committed to Saskatchewan and we want to make sure Canada’s potash industry remains strong and competitive into the future,” said Bruce Bodine, president and CEO of the Mosaic Company.
“Looking forward to the future, we feel Mosaic is uniquely positioned to continue to create meaningful employment opportunities, especially for our youth who is the next generation of Saskatchewan’s mining workforce, as well as those rural and Indigenous individuals living nearest to our operations. Skilled, dedicated workers are the backbone of our great industry and quite frankly, we need more of them.”
Marnell Jones, Mosaic’s director of government and public affairs, spoke about how this investment will benefit the industry and the province.
“Right now, we really need to build our entire workforce pipeline for our industry. And in order to do that, we have to start early while the students are in high school, but then also look at the in-demand trades that we’re going to need now and in the future. So partnering with folks like Suncrest and Sask Polytech are really going to help us fulfill our workforce strategy.”
Jones said they have been “working with the institutions on true partnerships, so understanding what their needs are in order to grow the programs, in order to deliver the best practice training that there is in the province. So that might look like things like new equipment, investments in infrastructure, investments in new buildings, and also ensuring that they have the instructors they need, and then also supporting students with things like scholarships and bursaries.”
Those educational partners benefiting from the investment are excited about what it will mean.
“Really, I’m flabbergasted. It’s transformative for our school division,” said Quinton Robertson, director and CEO of the Good Spirit School Division.
“This means opening up doors and opportunities for our students that were never available in the past. So we’ll be able to almost quadruple the number of students that we’re able to put through our practical and applied arts millwright program in Churchbridge that doors would have been closed for in the past.”
He said they already have a millwright or industrial mechanics program operating out of Churchbridge, but it is very small.
“It’s capped at 13 students right now. This will allow us to maximize that… So it will transform that program and also allow us to focus in on other areas as well.”
Dr. Larry Rosia of Saskatchewan Polytechnic also welcomed the funding.
“So this donation for Saskatchewan Polytechnic, it’s really two-fold. It’ll help with programs that we already deliver in Moose Jaw — programs that feed this industry. So instrumentation, electrician, mechanical engineers.
“As well as our new campus that we’re building in Saskatoon. So we’ll name a lab after Mosaic as a result of this. So this investment in education allows us to do what we need to do in order to make sure that the province has the skills that it needs.”
Alison Dubreuil, president and CEO of Suncrest College, said the $1.5 million to her college means a couple of things.
“First and foremost, will be an upgrade of the equipment in our industrial mechanics training lab, now called the Mosaic Industrial Mechanics Lab. But it will also be a refresh of our facilities in Esterhazy. And it will allow us to increase training capacity at our Esterhazy campus so we can produce more skilled graduates, but also be able to attract that talent who needs to train at our campus.”
She also highlighted the importance of having that education in east-central Saskatchewan.
“It’s a great pathway for students in rural Saskatchewan. To be able to get this education at home is phenomenal. And we know that our learners thrive when they study close to home. So having this partnership with Good Spirit School Division as well, and we’ve had a partnership for a number of years …, [to] ladder students from the Churchbridge programming to Esterhazy campus, and out the doors and hopefully to Mosaic’s operations.”
