THUNDER BAY — Kris DeGiacomo, manager of Norcat's Thunder Bay training centre, said they are among the largest mine training companies globally.
Driven by the Northwestern Ontario mining growth, Norcat is hiring additional trainers, adding more programs in the district and expanding work with many of the larger mine sites around the area.
The heavy equipment operating training programs are augmented by funding from the Ontario Skills Development Fund.
DeGiacomo explained how Norcat is a skills development, health and safety consulting company that works with mining and forestry companies across Northwestern Ontario. They say their programs help companies "up-skill" employees on the equipment that they use regarding first-aid training, working at heights, and health and safety training.
"We have a wonderful training facility in Thunder Bay with a couple of classrooms for our programs that include working at heights and hoisting and rigging-type classroom environments as well," DeGiacomo said.
"We'll go into the community to various operations sites to run third-party training too. We're very flexible."
Norcat's trainees, who come from all sectors, are trained through specialized programs and include First Nations communities who are looking to upskill operators to help find jobs within local operations in or around their communities.
"Our public courses can be done online, and we partner with other training organizations to augment some of their specific training needs," he said.
Norcat has operated for more than 20 years in Sudbury and in Thunder Bay for almost seven years while working primarily with local construction, forestry and mining companies.
"We're working with mine sites, various First Nation community partnerships, Newmont Musselwhite, and with New Gold Inc. in Rainy River, where we've run new operator training programs for their equipment," he noted.
"We've been on-site at places like Greenstone Gold Mines, where we've helped with certifying trainers and operators on equipment, and with other First Nations training organizations such as Anishinabek Employment and Training Services and Kiikenomaga Kikenjigewen Employment and Training Services (KKETS) here locally as well."
DeGiacomo said they are fortunate to deliver high-quality training from their trainers' experience and knowledge.
"We've got four senior mine trainers, three who have both surface and underground experience, and another one who has worked with a lot of metal and plant equipment on the surface," he said.
"On the paramedic side, we've got two full-time paramedics who are also trainers that have worked with many volunteer firefighters around Thunder Bay. We also partner with other high-quality training partners to deliver any programs that we don't have in our curriculum."
DeGiacomo and his team members represented Norcat at the Prosperity Northwest Conference in the city at the Valhalla Inn last week where they were able to network with 60 companies. He said they want to be talking with the business community to understand what's happening in the industry landscape.
"We want to be a leader and contribute to the overall economic growth of Northwestern Ontario, especially with the mining industry being a big pusher of that right now. That's something that we want to be a part of," he said.
The Chronicle Journal / Local Journalism Initiative
