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Grade 12 student Landon Moise is part of a cohort of young people who may have a future working at a mine under construction north of their community in a remote part of Saskatchewan.
Moise attends Clearwater River Dene School, a land-based learning school more than 500 kilometres north of Saskatoon and two hours away from a new uranium mine being built by NexGen Energy.
He says the school is adapting its curriculum to prepare students for the big economic and environmental changes on the way.
“I get to learn how to protect the environment and how to work with it,” Moise said. “Along with working and understanding these big corporations that work just in our backyard.”
NexGen’s Rook 1 mine is being built on the traditional territory of the Dene, Cree and Métis people.
The $2.2 billion project is expected to generate nearly 500 full-time jobs and make Canada the world’s largest exporter of uranium.
It’s an unprecedented economic opportunity, and teachers at the school want young people to be ready.
They’re teaching classes like financial literacy, as well as hands-on-skills that are recognized in and out of the classroom.
“[They’re] making those connections with industry and finding out that something they can do with the toolset they’re learning in the shop could also provide an income,” said Brien Morgan, the school’s practical and applied arts teacher.
“And then they were able to actually make that connection with the work that’s going on north of us.”
Morgan taught students to make core sampling boxes, which hold soil during mine drilling. He partnered with a local business and sold students’ work to mines up north.
These kinds of projects uplift students and make them feel ready to take jobs after graduation, he said.
The school also knows that a mining project of this magnitude will affect the land.
Last year, students had a chance to visit the mine site and plant just over 4,000 seedlings of blueberry, alder and jack pines.
“I think it was great because we got to learn how this stuff grows, how to protect them and how to treat them properly,” Moise said.
Teacher Paul Haynes organized that project and helped start the land-based learning program so students could reconnect with the land and learn in a more traditional setting.
It’s great that students are already signing contracts with NexGen for after graduation, he said.
“Here’s what you’re making in a year. It’s more than twice as much as me, and you just graduated.”
But he’s also worried about how the development will affect the land and traditional food sources.
Construction is officially underway for a Saskatchewan mine set to make Canada the world’s largest uranium exporter. It’s located in the province’s Athabasca Basin. For communities in the North, it’s an unprecedented economic opportunity.
“There’s a lot more traffic on the road. That changes things,” Haynes said.
“It affects how you hunt or how you trap. There’s certain spots on the highway [where] I don’t set traps anymore, it’s not safe.”
Haynes said it’s important that students get educated on the environmental pros and cons so they can self-determine their viewpoint on the project.
How is NexGen protecting the environment?
NexGen tells CBC that rigorous environmental protocol is followed daily relating to wildlife, air quality and water.
The company has signed benefit agreements with First Nations and Métis communities near the mine, allow the communities to engage their own environmental consultants and review all of NexGen’s environmental data relating to operations.
NexGen CEO Leigh Curyer said they work in collaboration with the provincial and federal governments to ensure operations are environmentally sensitive.
“In a lot of instances we’re even improving the environment through proactive reclamation,” Curyer said.
Every mining operation in Canada uses surface tailings, which is the most environmentally impactful element of any mining operation, and he wanted this project’s tailings to be different, he said.
“We purposely designed the tailings in underground chambers, which are elite with respect to the environmental consequence of tailing attributes of a mining operation,” Curyer said.
It’s the first time the concept is being executed in Canada.
“It does cost extra from a capital cost and also an operating cost,” Curyer said. “But it’s environmentally elite.”
Curyer said the concept has been recognized by the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission as industry leading, and he hopes it means the traditional land won’t be harmed during the 24-year lifespan of the mine.
