Page 14 Contd on pg 16 By Frank Giorno The increasing prominence of the Aboriginal Community in the mining sector was highlighted this year at the Northern Mines Expo where a confer ence was held on Aboriginal Procure ment and Developing Partnerships The conference was sponsored by the Nishnawbe Aski Developme nt Fund and the Royal Bank of Canada The Keynote Speaker was Phil Fontaine former Nationa l Chief of the Assem bly of First Nations The event got started with a procure ment seminar in which participants discussed current and future supply needs and criteria for choosing sup pliers and the process for bidding on supply contracts Greg V aillancourt Aecon Mining Re gional Manager Ontario explained Aecon s supply and procurement pro cess is based on the company s needs and a decision that subcontracting is the way to meet those needs When evaluating a contractor s bid proposal they consider their safety records and the competiveness of the bid Aecon Mining is itself a mine con tracting company that provides ser vices such developing of open pit mines for the owners and operators and other engineering services to mining companies They often have a need to subcontract some of their work Aecon has established partnerships with First Nations across Canada and have arrangements in place that sup ports their participation in their min ing projects Aecon does this by de veloping training programs that can be or ganized on the spot near a proj ect site through the use of a mobile training room The recruiting team then evaluates skills and makes a decision on who to hire V aillancourt said W e look for long term skills training and long term relations with successful trainees Marc Bilodeau Brigus Gold s V ice President of Operations said Brigus has a potential 18 million oz of gold to mine over the 13 year life expec tancy of its mine It costs them 750 per oz to produce an ounce of gold in their open pit mine Brigus Gold operates two gold mines east of T immi ns the Black Fox and Grey Fox Mines Bilodeau explained that Brigus pro curement process is guided by the Im pact Beneft Agreement with the W ah goshig First Nations In evaluating the successful bid Brigus considers the bidders safety and environmental stewardship record its acceptance of a culture of respect and open commu nications A successful bidder must provide proof that the work will be done on time and up to the standards demand ed by Brigus They must also meet industry standards and be competi tive with their pricing Opportunities must be provided by the suppliers to members of the W ahgoshig First Na tions in accord ance with the terms of the IBA Brigus labour needs range across a number of job categories including labourers operators technic ians en gineers and environmental consultants The contract services required by Bri gus include food services hauling contracting and under ground mine development Bilodeau said that Brigus future is bright He pointed to the future expan sion of the Grey Fox Mine The ex pectation is Brigus will process about 5000 tonnes of ore per day They expect to hire 300 to 500 employees Most employees will be hired from the T immins area T o meet their la bour needs Brigus will establish on site common core training with the W ahgoshig First Nation David Flood Austin Powder s Busi ness Development Manager an Ojib way from Matachewan said the First Nations have a wealth of people in the T immins area and his company Aus tin Powder wants to engage all people who live in the area First Nation communities are in creasing their respective participation and beneft from resource use and de velopment in their territories through various forms of agreements Flood said First Nation populations can meet the needs of companies like Austin Pow der as their population continues to grow at 3 to 5 times the rate of the na tional nonaboriginal population and the average age being under 25 Austin Powder is a 180 year old US owned Explosives Company that is planning to open up a plant in T im mins W e want to establish the only ex plosives manufacturing plant in T im Expo featur ed Aboriginal Procurement and Developing Partnerships Confer ence