Did you know that the Canadian mining industry directly employs more than 373,000 workers across the country in mineral extraction, smelting, fabrication and manufacturing, and indirectly employs an additional 190,000 in other related fields. Mining is also the largest private sector employer of Aboriginal people in Canada on a proportional basis. Here at ABQ we decided it was time to take a look at a few of those individuals with careers that are in some way connected to mining.

Though born in Dawson City, YT, Twain Anderson actually grew up in Northern Saskatchewan where he went to grade school. It was there that he developed a passion for flying and set out to become a pilot after high school graduation.

“Flying was always something I wanted to do,” he explains. “I knew I would like the challenge and the new places I would get to visit.”

As a determined young man, Anderson earned a commercial fixed-wing licence in Saskatoon. To get his commercial helicopter licence, he chose the best school he could find at the time, which was in St. Andrews, Man. “When I took my training, there were very limited flight schools available,” he says. “I chose St. Andrews because of their reputation for being a quality school.”

With his commercial fixed-wing and commercial helicopter licences, Anderson began his career path. He started flying in Northern Saskatchewan before heading to the Arctic. Then he moved south again working for Athabaska Airways. Later, Anderson joined North Central Helicopters where he was chief pilot for 12 years. 

Along the way his Metis heritage led Anderson to join Metis Local #7 in Saskatchewan.

In 2012, he joined Yellowknife-based Great Slave Helicopters as a line pilot/training captain. A year later, he took on the role of assistant chief pilot, which involved the duties of hiring and training Great Slave’s pilots in both North and South America. Anderson is now the company’s chief pilot. 

Although his work takes him all over the North and much further south at times, his home base is in La Ronge, Sask. And while Anderson enjoys travelling great distances on a regular basis, it’s the many different people he works with that gives him the most job enjoyment; that and flying of course. 

“The people I deal with day-to-day as well as the flying itself are my favorite things about my job. I really like training. I’m responsible for seeing pilots, both male and female, grow in their abilities.”

Great Slave, a company with multiple partnerships with Aboriginal-owned companies, works in a variety of sectors: from air ambulance to wildlife surveys and ecological tourism, to executive charter services, to military support missions, and resource-based enterprises. Resource businesses, such as mining companies, are a major source of work for Great Slave. 

“We as a company are involved with the resource sector from exploration to the finished product,” says Anderson. As an example of the many challenging jobs he does in this sector, Anderson describes one of the ways Great Slave supports exploration activities.

“We move a tremendous amount of diamond drills for the resources sector, which is very challenging as a pilot. I am very proud of the product we put out for our customers. This summer I was personally involved with a tower erection job at one of our Northern client’s mines. We constructed a communication tower from the ground up using our helicopters. I managed this job and it was extremely successful from a safety standpoint as well as a production standpoint and we had very high customer satisfaction.”

While keeping clients happy can be demanding, Anderson says that finding good young pilots is even harder.

“The most challenging part of my job is finding qualified, quality people in this ever-changing work environment we are faced with. My goal is to provide the safest, most productive services for our clients.”