MOA SIGNING. (From left) CMC Administrative Manager, Salvador C. Cabauatan, Dr. Antonio P. Talamayan, SPUS VP for Academic Affairs, Engr. Arnilo C. Milaor, CMC Resident Mine Manager, and Engr. Vincent Guilalas, SPUS Dean of College of Engineering, during the signing of the Memorandum of Agreement recently.
SURIGAO CITY -- A first for the Philippine mining industry, the Cagdianao Mining Corp. (CMC), a subsidiary of Nickel Asia Corp. (NAC), will offer a Mining Engineering degree program to qualified employees in its mine site in Cagdianao town, Dinagat Islands province.
This, after CMC tied up with St. Paul University of Surigao (SPUS) to offer a Bachelor of Science degree in Mining Engineering at its mine site in Barangay Valencia starting School Year 2019-2020.
Dr. Antonio P. Talamayan, SPUS Vice President for Academic Affairs, said the site-based degree program has been approved by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) recently.
"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.
“This is the first time that we are partnering with the mining industry because I believe CMC is a responsible mining company,”, he added.
In Caraga region, the mining engineering course is offered only at St. Paul in Surigao City and the Caraga State University in Butuan City.
According to Salvador C. Cabauatan, CMC administrative group manager, 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.
To be eligible for the course, Cabauatan said applicants must have already completed basic subjects based on the SPUS prospectus for BS Mining Engineering.
Cabauatan said that SPUS is banking on CMC's 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.
Further, he added that CMC has an array of state of the art mining software for mine planning, mine scheduling and mine design optimization.
“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 course is initially offered to interested and qualified employees but CMC is hoping the opportunity can also be extended to the mining communities in Dinagat Islands, which hosts several large-scale nickel mining firms. (PR)
