How ORIGIN and Newmont are using virtual reality to recruit for remote mining careers
Like many other trades, mining offers a range of career opportunities many students and job seekers are unaware of, even those who are already familiar with the trades and considering career paths outside the traditional domains of science, engineering, or business. There is often a lack of understanding around both the jobs available within the industry, as well as the education, training, and certifications needed to pursue these paths. ORIGIN created our ImmersiveLink Careers Library, which enables users to join different tradespeople in a virtual reality tour of their daily work, to bridge this gap. This article will explain how our customer, Newmont, the world’s largest gold mining company, uses the ORIGIN ImmersiveLink Careers Library to educate prospective job seekers about career opportunities at their fly-in, fly-out Musselwhite mine in northern Ontario.
Located about 500 kilometres north of Thunder Bay on the traditional territory of North Caribou Lake First Nation, Musselwhite is a remote mine that few people have the opportunity to visit, so the ORIGIN ImmersiveLink Careers Library is a critical education tool for Newmont. This technology enables prospective employees to immerse themselves in the worksites and daily responsibilities of various tradespeople at site. When users put on the Oculus headset and connect to the Library, they are instantly transported to site, breaking down the geographical barrier and creating a memorable experience for users.
So far, ORIGIN and Newmont Musselwhite have produced four virtual reality experiences for prospective job seekers. The first experience we created has all users begin their journey by meeting mine safety leader and host, Freeman Ledrew. From there, the user takes a virtual drive into the mine to watch different machinery at work, explore the site, and listen to an interview wherein Freeman shares what he enjoys about the job.
“This was the starting point of our careers library and really showed us the opportunity that creating these experiences can provide,” said ORIGIN president Melissa Hardy-Giles. “It’s awesome to see students get excited about opportunities to work in the mine after viewing this experience.”
The success of this early experience encouraged ORIGIN and Newmont to produce three more virtual reality experiences showcasing some of the many skillsets needed to operate a mine. Users can now spend a day in the life of a mill operator, chef, and environmental technician.
The ORIGIN ImmersiveLink Careers Library has also played an important role in helping the Newmont Musselwhite mine meet its commitments to the signatory First Nations surrounding their operations. Embedded in the agreements that Musselwhite has with its First Nations partners are targets for Indigenous employment and training.
“Meeting those commitments is both essential to Newmont’s purpose of creating value and improving lives, and a critical step towards economic reconciliation with First Nations,” said Shane Matson, sustainability & external relations manager at Musselwhite. “However, recruiting and supporting our growing Indigenous workforce can be challenging in a remote setting. What I love about these virtual experiences is they can be viewed offline and brought into classrooms, offices, and remote communities.”
The ORIGIN ImmersiveLink Careers Library has been a critical tool to help Newmont’s Musselwhite mine highlight career opportunities for all job seekers, and especially Indigenous youth in signatory First Nations. If you’re interested in learning more about how you can capture career opportunities in virtual reality, visit immersivelink.ca.
