Mining skills shortage looms as Ontario gears up for EV boom – National Observer

June 4, 2024

Ontario’s mining industry risks a shortfall of over 3,500 skilled green-collar workers by 2040, unless it jump-starts education and training for the new generation of technicians needed as Canada’s critical minerals-hungry electric vehicle (EV) sector gears up this decade, according to a new strategy report unveiled by the government.

The province last week launched its Critical Minerals Talent Strategy, a multi-department initiative developed by the government’s Ontario Vehicle Innovation Network (OVIN) to head off this employment bottleneck as mining deepens its focus on extracting the cobalt, lithium, nickel and other materials key to manufacturing EV batteries.

Ontario’s mining sector will be supporting almost 23,000 jobs by the end of the next decade, a 163 per cent rise on today’s headcount, according to OVIN’s scenario-scoping. But the head of the group flags that without a “supportive talent strategy, about one in seven jobs [could be] going unfilled.”

Read More: https://www.nationalobserver.com/2024/06/04/news/Mining-skills-training-Pirie-Ring-of-Fire-Ontario