Yesterday at PDAC2026, Cementation representatives participated in two panel discussions that highlighted both the opportunities and challenges facing our industry.
“Experience Required: Rethinking Talent Development in Mining” focused on the talent and experience gap in mining. “Canada’s AI Advantage” explored Canada’s impact on the future of AI.Different topics — but closely connected. Canada has incredible strengths in both mining and AI, but realizing that opportunity depends on the people who will operate, interpret, and improve these systems.
At the same time, our industry is facing an unprecedented skills and experience gap, and closing it won’t be easy. As panelists noted, for too long we’ve competed for experienced talent instead of investing in building the pipeline.
A few themes stood out across both panels:
• Training is an investment, not a cost — every $1 invested returns about $1.47 in value
• Hire for potential, not just proof, and expand work-integrated learning opportunities
• Mining is place-based — investing in people strengthens communities and trust
This is an industry-wide challenge, and addressing it will require collaboration across companies, educators, and communities. The path forward lies in investing in people and building the workforce that will power the future of mining through partnership, innovation, and collective action.
