TIMMINS - In late November, nine happy graduates gathered at the NPLH Drilling office in Timmins to celebrate a milestone in their careers.
Ranging in age from 18 to 49, they arrived with different life experiences, but left with the same achievement in hand: a certificate in diamond drilling common core that makes way for meaningful employment in the mineral exploration industry.
“We’ve hired three of them already,” said Gabriella Desmarais, NPLH’s Indigenous relations lead, of the new grads. “And we’re looking at hiring more in January when the drills pick up a little bit.”
Launched last August, the four-week program has been created in partnership with NPLH Drilling, Northern College, Taykwa Tagamou Nation, Moose Cree First Nation, and Mushkegowuk Council.
Aimed at developing a new, skilled workforce, the focus is on Indigenous peoples, women and youth who will be trained to work in surface and underground drilling environments.
It’s fully funded — meaning tuition and PPE is supplied free to participants — and culturally sensitive; an Indigenous Elder from the Northern campus is available to speak with students.
For participants, many of whom had never before been away from their communities, the program was designed as an accessible introduction to the industry.
“Prior to just going to a drill site fresh, it was giving them that theory and a little bit of a hands-on experience prior to determining whether or not the drilling field is for them,” Desmarais said.
Purposeful engagement with Indigenous partners is important for NPLH, a family-owned company that’s been in operation for nearly 40 years, she noted.
The company sees prosperity — for them, for their Indigenous neighbours, and for the mining industry in general — in working together on training and employment initiatives.
But it has to be more than just a token checkmark of a “truth and reconciliation” box, Desmarais said.
“If you want to be authentic and you want to actively engage in truth and reconciliation, you need to develop those relationships, to have those First Nation partners,” she said.
“You have to have them at the table, and you have to have that open, authentic communication of where in their community do they see areas that businesses can tap into and work with them.”
Planning ahead for generational benefit has become second nature to the company.
It was founded in 1989 by Daniel Blaquiere and, upon his untimely death in 2014, his children, Dana and Alexander, carried on in his stead.
The company provides a range of drilling services in the mining, construction and environmental sectors, but by far, Desmarais said, mining remains their bread and butter.
They’ve drilled across Northern Ontario, throughout Ontario and into Northern Quebec for some of the leading exploration companies in the industry, including IAMGOLD at their Côté Gold site in Gogama, Canada Nickel’s various Northern Ontario locations, and Agnico Eagle at its Detour Gold site in northwestern Ontario and its Hammond Reef project north of Atikokan.
NPLH also holds a licence for drilling in the U.S.
“That opportunity hasn’t arisen yet, but it’s partially why we attend conventions and mine expos,” Desmarais said.
That includes their appearance at the 2024 MINExpo International convention in Las Vegas last September, and the annual gathering of the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) coming up in March.
“We’re looking at networking and expanding our catchment area, if the opportunities arise.”
NPLH is also looking toward an expansion of its services, with plans to introduce underground drilling later this year.
At its busiest times, the company employs about 220 drillers and driller helpers across divisions, although they do lay off some staff during down times around the holidays.
Finding a workforce to meet their needs has been challenging, and NPLH has had to be creative in finding staff to fulfill its obligations, including hiring from out of province.
Desmarais believes the mining industry continues to suffer from an outdated stigma as an industry for low-educated, unskilled workers with little opportunity for growth.
The reality, she said, is that it’s a thriving, modernized sector with lots of benefits: plenty of training and educational opportunities that can lead to advancement, health and safety as a priority among companies, and workers being given the chance to travel and work flexible schedules to achieve a better work-life balance.
“If you’re physically active, like being outside, like keeping busy and doing something different every day, then maybe it is a field that you may be interested in,” said Desmarais, who co-chairs the recently launched Women in Mining Timmins chapter, designed to attract more women to the industry.
NPLH’s efforts are catching the eye of industry. In 2024, the company received the Partnership of the Year Award from the Nishnawbe Aski Development Fund, and the previous year, it received the 2023 Business of the Year Award from the Timmins Chamber of Commerce.
Another two cohorts of the NPLH-led diamond drilling common core program are planned for 2025, with the potential to train another 20 people in the field.
Desmarais said that, although the company needs its own drillers, NPLH is equally excited to see graduates thrive across the industry, with other companies.
“We’re hopeful that they’ll want to apply for drilling anywhere else that they could,” she said. “We just wanted to offer that opportunity with our First Nations.”
