Tag: Mining

Kinross establishes new scholarship at record-breaking Blue & Gold event

Above: UAF Chancellor Dan White stands with Anna Atchison, Terence Watungwa and Brenna Schaake from Kinross Alaska at the Blue & Gold Celebration on Thursday, May 11, 2023. UAF photo by Eric Engman.

Donors at last week’s University of Alaska Fairbanks Blue & Gold Celebration contributed more than $435,000 in support of student scholarships.
 
The total includes a $350,000 gift from Kinross Alaska to establish the Kinross Alaska Future Leaders Endowed Scholarship. The endowment will provide up to four years of financial support for vocational and baccalaureate students who are historically underrepresented in the resource development industry.
 
It’s the first scholarship of its kind at UAF.

Read the full article here.

Source: UAF news and information. Article by Marimian Grimes, UAF senior public information officer.

Students go underground to find rock-steady jobs

Attendees at the MAPTS graduation ceremony on Nov. 21, 2022, ride in vehicles through the tunnels of the underground mine training center. UAF photo by Eric Engman.

The University of Alaska Fairbanks Mining and Petroleum Training Service (MAPTS) has conducted resource industry training and worker certification for 40 years. In addition to hard skills for underground and surface mine operations, MAPTS provides customized training for a variety of employers, agencies and industry partners. Graduates of the MAPTS program move into jobs at Alaska’s major mines, including Kinross in the Interior, Hecla Greens Creek Mine on Admiralty Island, and Coeur Alaska Kensington in the Southeast.

We know that this program changes lives.

William Bieber, MAPTS Executive Director

Over 400 miners have graduated from MAPTS’ underground mining program in the past decade. Many of whom went straight to work in one of Alaska’s Major mines, joining an industry with about 5,400 mining jobs.

Julie Stricker of UAF’s Cooperative Extension Service shares the story of MAPTS’ contributions to the state’s mining industry, the program’s impact on future miners, and new mining opportunities MAPTS can help seize.

Read the full story here.

Source: Julie Stricker, Public Information Officer, UAF Cooperative Extension Service

MAPTS gets grant to train workers for mine near Tetlin

Photo by: Eric Engman. Attendees get a tour of the facility during the MAPTS Graduation in the Mining and Petroleum Training Service Underground Mine Training Center off of the Alaska Highway outside Delta Junction Monday, November 21, 2022.

A $300,000 grant from the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development to the Mining and Petroleum Training Service will provide mining training for local residents at the MAPTS training center near Delta Junction. Read more here.

Source: University of Alaska News and Information

Expanding Green Technology in Mining

Mining in Alaska is important to the world. If we look at where we are right now with critical minerals we are completely dependent on China. And we have the capacity and capability to change that global narrative through the universities with industry here in Alaska. The focus right now is on the green energy transition. Research conducted at the University of Alaska Anchorage is addressing conventional methods of extraction of critical minerals and other metals. This gives operating mines and upcoming mines the tools they need to be able to extract responsibly.

Source: Empower Alaska

Reports show value of UA workforce development programs

Quantifying the impact of postsecondary education on the workforce across Alaska industries has long-been a challenge for the state and university. In an effort to address this, the State Department of Labor and Workforce Development partnered with the University of Alaska (UA) to create workforce reports that demonstrate UA graduate outcomes in 10 key industries: administration and finance, aviation, construction, fisheries and marine science, health, information technology, mining, oil and gas, and teacher education. Each report highlights the largest and fastest-growing occupations within each industry that require postsecondary education, average wages earned over time, the percentage of graduates employed across Alaska’s six economic regions, what industries they work in, and how they contribute to the Alaska hire rate. More than 17,700 UA graduates over a ten year period were included in the report data, and 96.3 percent are working in Alaska today averaging $69K annually. The reports can be found at https://www.alaska.edu/research/wd/reports.php.

Read the full article here.

Source: Reports show value of UA workforce development programs | Juneau Empire