Testimonial: Skeena Resources - Green Jobs S&T Internship Program
Transcript
Justin: My name is Justin Himmelright. I am the Vice President of sustainability for Skeena Resources. My role at Skeena Resources is environmental compliance, permitting for our operations, community relations and indigenous affairs. Skeena has a unique business model. We acquire mines that have been closed and we start to look for minerals in those areas.
Andrea: My name is Andrea Seager and I am an environmental technician with Skeena Resources. Right now I’m about 6 months into an 8-month contract and so far it’s been fantastic. I’ve loved every moment of it.
I am responsible for collecting all the water samples at four different locations on-site. I also measure the flow of all the water and all the physical characteristics.
Another aspect of my job is wildlife observation. It’s always different. Some days it’s a pair of swans, Canada geese, buffalo head ducks, beavers, little weasels and on the super rare occasion, a moose!
Justin: One of things people might think about the Green Jobs grant program is that it doesn’t apply to them. In our example, the work that Andrea is doing is very related to mineral exploration and mining development in an environmentally friendly way and that’s a green job.
Andrea: So this device here behind me takes a photo once every 14 hours and sends it remotely back to Vancouver.
Justin: And there it is, my daily picture of the spillway at Snip.
Andrea: We had a beaver building a dam over there and it was preventing the flow of water so this gives us an idea of what is going on remotely and so far so good!
Justin: The Green Jobs Program is very easy to manage. It’s a user-friendly very accessible program. You get part of the wages for your worker covered, they get a great opportunity to learn and in order for us to grow as an industry we need to have a new generation of workers.
Andrea: My commute to work is not like everyone else’s. For starters I have to get from Williams Lake to Vancouver. (On my way!) From Vancouver I fly up to either Smithers or Terrace. And then from there it’s 6 hour truck ride. Then I jump into a helicopter for a 10-15 minute fly in.
We’ve got wifi throughout camp. The food here is great and the people are great. You couldn’t ask for a better place to work.
Justin: We really hope that Andrea will continue to grow here with us at Skeena and that one day she will be an environmental manager for one of our mining operations.
Andrea: This Green Jobs internship has really broadened my experience. I’ve worked in Forestry and in the government and now mining. In the future I hope to achieve my Registered Professional Biologist designation.
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