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Haileybury School of Mines marks 100th anniversary

When Richard Spence was a young adult searching for the next step in his life, the Haileybury School of Mines was the answer. “After high school, I wasn't sure what I wanted to do,” he said.
Richard Spence
Richard Spence points to a photo of his 1969 graduating class from the Haileybury School of Mines at Northern College. The school celebrates its 100th anniversary this year.

When Richard Spence was a young adult searching for the next step in his life, the Haileybury School of Mines was the answer.

“After high school, I wasn't sure what I wanted to do,” he said. “My dad picked up a hitchhiker who was attending the school and he raved about it. So I called the guy and ended up here in 1966.”

The school celebrates its 100th anniversary this year with a weekend of activities and events from June 15 to 17. For former students like Spence, who currently lives in New Liskeard, the school prepared them well for a life-long career in the mining industry.

“I was originally from Thunder Bay and then spent my teenage years in southern Ontario,” he said. “I know I wanted to go back to school and come back North.”

Although there were no girls attending the school at that time, Spence said he “became a statistic” when he fell for a local girl and ended up staying in the area.

“Our dean at the time, Ossie Walli, came into our classroom at the beginning of my first year and looked around and told us that 25 per cent of us will be married to a local girl. Of course we all laughed but it happened to me,” Spence said.

He took the three-year program and when he graduated in 1969, he had four job offers to choose from.

“If someone didn't have a job as soon as they graduated, then they weren't interested in working for the mining industry,” he said.

After working for a few years at a silver refinery in Cobalt and then as a mill superintendent at a Cobalt mine, Spence worked for a urethane and rubber parts manufacturer in the area and stayed with the company until retirement.

When Spence began his studies at the school, it was under the Provincial Institute of Mining. By the time he graduated, it was part of Northern College.

“We were a close-knit bunch of guys,” he said. “Our classes were eight hours a day and every Thursday night we had a lab for about three hours. And if anyone had any problems, the teachers were all available on Saturday mornings to help.”

Students came from all across Canada, the U.S., Europe and Africa.

“It really had a world-renowned reputation,” Spence said. “At one point in my career, all the mine managers in the area such as Sherman, Adams and Kerr-Addison, were all Haileybury graduates. It had a very good reputation.”

That reputation boded well for the students since they all had summer jobs in the industry.

“We had alumni out there in good positions and they liked the mining students,” he said.

Often employers would come to the school to interview students nearing graduation or students would be flown to a prospective employer for an interview.

Spence has kept in touch with quite a few of his classmates, despite being spread all over the country.

“No matter where you seemed to go, you would always bump into someone who had gone to the school,” he said. “There was quite a network of graduates in the mining industry.”

Currently, the school offers one program – mining engineering technician – which is delivered in a modular format and also through distance education to allow students to maintain their employment.

“The Haileybury School of Mines taught us a great work ethic and gave us a general, all-around education. We didn't specialize in any one area but you could step into any mining job and be well prepared,” Spence said.

www.northernc.on.ca