In July 2006, ten Mining Engineering students and Associate Professor David Laurence from the University of New South Wales (UNSW) participated in the university's inaugural overseas mining field trip. The ten-day trip to western Canada involved visits to two mines in British Columbia, the Diavik Diamond Mine in the Northwest Territories and the Syncrude oil sands operation in Alberta. Importantly, the group's main objective was to gain a global understanding of today's mining industry by observing the different cultural, legal, social and environmental setting found in Canada._x000D_
It should be noted that the entire trip was planned, organised and directed by the students and benefited from extensive industry support both in Australia and Canada._x000D_
This report intends to provide an overview of the field trip and describe to a limited extent the Canadian approach to mining._x000D_
FORMAL CITATION:Gelson, R and McKeon, D, 2007. Perspectives on the Canadian mining industry, in Proceedings New Leaders' 2007, pp 7-10 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).