How women carry heavy loads and continue to succeed in the mining industry

If you’re at our Meadowbank mine in Nunavut and go looking for Natasha Nagyougalik you’re likely to find her either overseeing the mine’s activities from the dispatch centre or sitting at the controls of one of the mine’s biggest pieces of equipment; the Caterpillar (CAT) 6030 mining shovel, which is capable of lifting between 20 and 25 tonnes of valuable ore and rock in a single scoop!

It’s a heavy load and a demanding job, but Natasha loves it. “It was nerve-wracking at first to operate such a big, technical piece of equipment but I decided to challenge myself.  Once I got the hang of it, I fell in love with it.”

Natasha has been working at Meadowbank for eight years and started with an entry-level position in the kitchen as a dish washer. As a single mother of a young son and looking towards the future she found herself looking at the job boards to see what other opportunities might be available and decided to try her hand at training to become Haul Truck Driver.

Through Agnico Eagle’s Career Path program, she began taking heavy equipment training, building her skills step by step. Today, Natasha is an Auxiliary Equipment and Production Relief Operator who is qualified to operate many types of large equipment, including the sizable CAT 6030.

Having reached this significant achievement Natasha’s next goal is to continue to hone her skills operating these big machines and she has her eye on moving into a higher-level supervisor-relief role.

To watch Natasha in action, click here