The funding from the Newfoundland and Labrador Department of Advanced Education, Skills and Labour will help the initiative, in development now, create its first course plan, establish various training delivery methods and assess an optimal delivery model.

The programme will be hosted at the Point Rousse gold complex, with Training Works of St John's, Newfoundland, managing the first stage of development and assisting in the creation of four additional foundational courses this year.

Anaconda officials said the initial course will be developed in conjunction with the Baie Verte Campus of the College of the North Atlantic and the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters (CME), with the goal of increasing employee awareness of gold mine operating costs and empowering employee students to engage in process improvements.

"The project will involve the development of a customised training course that will utilise the key financial metrics of Anaconda's operations," the company said, noting that it will use classroom-based, online and blended teaching.

"A comprehensive evaluation will be conducted to determine the effectiveness of each model in regard to behaviour change and the impacts on Anaconda's bottom line."

President and CEO Dustin Angelo pointed out that providing continuing education in a particular technical discipline, as well as other areas like management, finance, safety, innovation and continuous improvement, provides the employee with a full range of skill sets and an understanding of what Anaconda is aiming to accomplish in its goals and initiatives.

"The value of having a highly skilled, well-trained and motivated workforce will ultimately accrue to our shareholders and other stakeholders," he added.

Anaconda joined forces last year with Training Works to better understand how employees learned and determine key skills priorities for development. The result of the evaluation was a five-pronged training priorities plan and the creation of a research-based approach to skills development to determine the best delivery model for training in the workplace. The miner said it will share the project's outcomes with the government of Newfoundland and Labrador as well as the industry.