Barrick recently announced a new partnership with Cisco and Great Basin College in Nevada to advance the digital knowledge of Barrick employees and other community groups in northern Nevada through a free educational program. Barrick’s Innovation Team, together with Community Relations and Sustainability teams in Nevada and Toronto, worked with Cisco and Great Basin College to form this distinctive partnership.
“Collaboration has always been at the heart of the partnership between Barrick and Cisco,” says Michael Brown, president of Barrick USA. “Working together with Great Basin College to bring this program to our people and the wider community underscores the importance we put on training our workforce and helping promote further education in the local community.”
“This is a critical step in our digital transformation and innovation strategy to ensure we are building a sustainable, skilled workforce to support our business in the future.”
The IT education program will be administered by Cisco’s Networking Academy at Great Basin College, and will feature both online and in-person courses. This unique initiative will benefit Barrick employees and their families, veterans of the U.S. Armed Forces, members of the Western Shoshone tribe and thousands of others in Barrick’s host communities in northern Nevada, including Elko, where Great Basin College is based, as well as Eureka, Carlin, Battle Mountain, Winnemucca and Owyhee.
“This is a critical step in our digital transformation and innovation strategy to ensure we are building a sustainable, skilled workforce to support our business in the future,” Brown says. “In doing so, we will also support the continued expansion and diversification of the economy of rural Nevada and the state as a whole.”
Barrick’s investment of nearly $400,000 over three years in the program covers hardware, software, instructor training and salaries, as well as course fees. The Company is working to expand the U.S. program to every country where Barrick operates, including Argentina, Canada, Chile, the Dominican Republic, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Saudi Arabia and Zambia.