Mining company offers pioneering onsite mining engineering program

Cagdianao Mining Corp. (CMC), a Nickel Asia Corp. subsidiary, will offer a pioneering onsite mining engineering degree to qualified employees of its mine site in Cagdianao, Dinagat Islands.

The program, which gives a chance to deserving employees of the mining firm’s site in Barangay Valencia to earn Bachelor of Science degree in Mining Engineering, is a result of a partnership between the mining firm and St. Paul University of Surigao (SPUS).

According to SPUS Vice President for Academic Affairs Dr. Antonio P. Tamalayan, the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) has already approved the site-based degree program that will start on the upcoming school year 2019-2020.

“This curriculum will innovate and deliver quality education. SPUS and CMC instructors will coordinate and communicate with each other throughout the course to produce topnotch engineers,” Talamayan said in a Philippine News Agency report.

Tamalayan said their institution views CMC as a responsible mining company. This, he said, is the reason why they did something never done in the past and enter a partnership with the mining company.

The onsite class is a huge opportunity for employees to pursue a dream of becoming mining engineers without having to leave the comforts of the workplace as per Salvador C. Cabauatan, CMC’s administrative group manager.

Eligibility for the program is determined by the completion of basic subjects based on the SPUS catalogue for BS Mining Engineering by the interested employees of CMC.

SPUS believes this requirement will be met by CMC through its generic resources, especially a solid lineup of mining engineers, geodetic engineers, geologists, and chemical engineers, who can teach the subjects specified in the mining engineering curriculum and an array of state-of-the-art computer software for mining engineering courses.

“CMC mining experts will be accredited by CHED as instructors, plus the materials are already on site, and the actual operations is a natural laboratory for the Course” Cabauatan explained.

The company hopes of eventually allowing mining communities of Dinagat Islands to be part of the program enabling the possibility to gain the mining engineering degree, which in Caraga region, is offered only at St. Paul in Surigao City and the Caraga State University in Butuan City.