This summer, Kinross hosted the first ever ‘Gold Rush Internship Challenge’ for our 26 ‘Gold Rush’ summer interns who were based in Toronto.
At the start of the summer, interns were grouped into multidisciplinary teams and tasked with selecting a case study related to Kinross’ operations and creating a proposal to find an innovative solution. Over the summer, teams met weekly for 1-2 hours to work on their proposal with help from departments related to the case study.
The Challenge was an opportunity for interns to work cross-functionally, build relationships with their peers, and gain exposure to new disciplines while using their education and experience to help their team succeed.
“The Internship Challenge forced us to come together with students of different educational backgrounds and learn to work together. Since we are all the same level at the Company, this was an opportunity to practice leadership and conflict resolution with our peers,” said Jade Breau, Continuous Improvement and Operations Strategy Intern. “The Challenge motivated us to step outside our comfort zones and gave us an excuse to learn more about a topic of interest while facilitating excellent networking opportunities.”
At the end of August, interns presented their proposals to a panel of judges from related departments and were scored on their idea, presentation skills and ability to work together as a team. After the judges deliberated, the interns were invited to an ‘end of internship’ celebration where the winners were revealed and prizes were presented by Claude Schimper, Executive Vice-President and Chief Operating Officer, which included swag bags and an in-person meeting with Paul Rollinson, President & CEO, for the first-place team.
Now let’s meet the winners of the challenge below:
Introducing our first place winners, ‘The Hidden Gems’ who presented on ‘The Mine of the Future’:
(front row): Kieran Clark, Business Optimization, and Emilie Robidas-Stephan, Operations Strategy.
Coming in a close second was ‘The Futuristic Five’ who also presented on ‘The Mine of the Future’:
In third place was ‘The Chem Crew’ who presented on ‘Cyanide to Community Members’:
Stephen Marchewka, Continuous Improvement and Operations Strategy, was also a member of ‘The Chem Crew’, but was not present at the celebration.
An honourable mention to our remaining two teams who delivered outstanding performances in the categories ‘A Closure Concept for Great Bear, A Lasting Legacy’, and ‘The Mine of the Future’.
Congratulations ‘A Beary Great Legacy’ team members Jade Breau, Continuous Improvement and Operations Strategy, Joel Agbey, ESG, Catie Bell, Financial Planning & Analysis, Ross Krieger, Human Resources, and Patrick McMormick, Mine Planning, and team members of ‘The Great Goldies,’Jasdip Mann, Business Optimization, Ingowari Erenyanate, Operations Strategy, Bernard Ordiz, Tax, Jahmorai Thomas, Human Resources and Mohammed Abdul Naseer, Information Technology.
“It was inspiring to see teams across Kinross come together to support our interns for the first ever Gold Rush Internship Challenge! A big thank you to our interns for giving their all and showing us what incredible results come from working together as a team. I can’t wait to get started on this program for our 2023 Gold Rush Interns!” said Michelle Riutort, Recruitment Advisor, Toronto, who created and brought the challenge to life for our interns.
