Geological Technician Co-op Program Student Blog
Who was my co-op with? I did my Earth Resource Technician (ERT, now Geological Technician) co-op with AMG Environmental Monitoring. My six-month co-op at AMG began on May 10th. AMG Environmental provides flow monitoring services for storm sewers, sanitary sewers and rivers. AMG also offers …
For my co-op term, I worked at Generation Mining as a Geotechnician in a remote township in North Western Ontario called Marathon. Working in Marathon was a great opportunity because it is in one of the most mining rich areas of Ontario.. My experience with …
This summer I worked as a Soil Sampler for Big River Mineral Exploration in the Yukon. I found out about this opportunity through our ERT (now Geological Technician) Program Coordinator, Joanna Hodge.
During my time with this company I learned a lot about the practical application of field geology and about the business of the mineral exploration industry. I started the season off doing claim staking and soil sampling for a company called Sans Peur. We spent the first few days placing claim posts, and after the claims were obtained we proceeded to take soil samples of the C horizon around the area of interest that would be sent to the lab for assay. This involved hiking through the forest and navigating to waypoints with a GPS. I found using a compass very helpful for navigating to the waypoints, and my knowledge of soil description really came in handy when logging soil samples. After this project was completed I got sent out to do a soil sampling project for a company called Cantex.
Cantex’s North Rakla camp was fly in only and remote, above the tree line in the mountains. I would be flown in and out of the field everyday via helicopter where I would climb up and down mountains all day collecting soil samples with a trowel. The helicopter would come by twice a day with a bag on a long line to pick up samples, and it would get me back to camp in time for dinner. After this project was finished, I worked on another soil sampling project for Victoria Gold Corp. Victoria Gold has an active gold mine but I worked in a small exploration camp on the outskirts of the mine called Nugget Camp. Here I did more soil sampling with augers, in an old burn type forest. I also did trench sampling here, which involved collecting bedrock samples from the trenches in 2 meter increments using geotools and rock hammers. I went back up to Cantex for a month after this, to assist the chef and do janitorial duties, which I didn’t exactly enjoy. The last soil sampling project I did was for Metallic Minerals in Keno City.
Near the end of the season I did some core-cutting for a company called Equity Mineral Exploration Consultants Ltd. This job involved using a core saw to evenly split core and collect half of it in sample bags that were to be sent to the lab for assay. The other half is kept around to use as proof if there are any high occurrences of mineralization. Finally, I wrapped up the season with Mayo Lake Minerals doing a trial run of a newly designed portable drill called the Talon Drill. The Talon Drill was used to take bedrock samples in zones that showed intriguing soil sample results to further narrow the zone of interest.
My favourite part of this job was the variety of camps I experienced working in, and also just being able to walk around in the forest or through the mountains all day. Working with geologists showed me that I still have much to learn and has inspired me to pursue further study in the field of geology and mineral exploration. I feel like I learned a lot about how mineral deposits are discovered and geology in general during this co-op, and also feel that it has been a vital stepping stone in my career. Once I have graduated from this program I would like to transfer Acadia University via the agreement they have with Fleming College to pursue a BSc in geology and ultimately become a Professional Geoscientist.
I completed my co-op for the Earth Resource Technician Program (ERT, now known as the Geological Technician Program) as an Environmental Remediation Student with Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (CNL). Overall, my position was largely administrative which meant that I spent a lot of time at a …
During this co-op semester, I worked for Bayside Geoscience. They are a geological consultation company based out of Thunder Bay, Ontario. I found this position through networking on LinkedIn. My position in the company was as a Geological Technician. With Bayside being a consultation company …
Over this past summer I had the good fortune of working for a mineral exploration company in northern Canada. The company is called Appia Rare Earths & Uranium Corp. The focus of our camp in northern Saskatchewan was looking for thorium-rich monazite that contains rare earth elements. Rare earths are used to produce many green technologies like EV batteries, solar panels, windmills, and electronic screens. I was hired as a “contract geologist”, as all other geos in our company (aside from the project manager) are titled. My status within the camp, however, was listed as “geotechnician”. Employment in mineral exploration is generally contract/seasonal work, often with a fly-in-fly-out schedule. (Eg.: four weeks on/two weeks off.)
Continue reading Graham Thorne – Mineral Exploration Technician
My co-op for the ERT course was working as a Geotechnical field technician in Ottawa with the company Golder Associates. Working at Golder was a very good opportunity for me to learn, grow, and get a taste of what type of industries I can go …
I applied to the ERT program with the intent to get into mineral exploration and wanted to take the co-op as an opportunity to get introduced into the profession. I spent some time in my first semester getting excited about the co-op, researching different companies, …
My ERT co-op was spent as a Junior Field Technician working in the testing and inspection department of GHD, at their Peterborough, Ontario office. GHD is a technical professional services firm, they offer a vast range of services. My experience in Peterborough introduced me to the environmental, geo-technical and civil departments of GHD. The testing and inspection department exists within the civil envelope. I answered directly to P.Eng Project Managers and to Senior Field Technicians in managerial positions.
Continue reading Myles Graham – Junior Field Technician
During the past two summer seasons, I have had the privilege of working for Miller Group’s Northern Paving Division in Ontario, Canada. I first found out about employment opportunities through my city’s local job fair in New Liskeard and was initially hired as a paving …
