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As students across our state and at every level of education adjust to what is most certainly a very different school year, Twin Metals Minnesota remains committed to ensuring there’s a pathway on the Iron Range for mining careers. While we are at the beginning stages of a multi-year environmental review process, our project will need to recruit for and fill 750 full-time mining jobs once operational. As a part of that commitment, this past summer we continued our summer internship program at our operational headquarters in Ely, Minn., and provided a student interested in pursuing a career in the mining industry an opportunity for hands-on field work experience.

Learn about our 2020 summer intern, Charles Dammann, and his experience this past summer in the Q&A below:

What is your background and what was your role at Twin Metals Minnesota?
I’m a sophomore studying Mining Engineering at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology and worked as a 2020 summer intern on the Twin Metals project in Ely, Minn.

What was a typical day like for you this summer?
My summer was filled with a variety of different jobs, all necessary to prepare for mineral production. My time focused on working with contractors on the borehole sealing program to ensure drill sites no longer in use are permanently closed and reclaimed. That requires annual site checks on former drill sites. And on sites like these, I worked to help clear brush out from around the drill site to ensure they remain accessible.

I was also able to help with acoustic tele-viewing survey work, which involves using a camera tool to measure and map exploratory boreholes. Ultimately, I was helping Twin Metals understand the properties and characteristics of the bedrock around the project area near Ely.

From your experiences as an intern, what are some key takeaways and learnings?
I think the experience of working with a company in the process of developing a mine is invaluable. Not many aspiring engineers get to experience and learn about this pre-mining phase of a project firsthand. The internship has also shown the importance of doing a thorough job, as well as the amount of work that goes into a project like this one. I’m looking forward to seeing this project progress in the future.

How would you describe working for Twin Metals?
Just from spending a summer on the Twin Metals team, I got the impression that the company wants their project to advance in the safest and most responsible manner possible. The standards set in place for my work activities went far beyond the minimum requirements, all in the interest of “doing things the right way, not the easy way.”

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If you are interested in learning more about internships and careers at Twin Metals, contact David Ulrich at dulrich@twin-metals.com or visit www.twin-metals.com/careers.