"This was as close to going to school for mining as I got; I was always trained on the job."

Tim Yokom was born in Perry Sound, Ontario in 1938. When he was eighteen years old he started mining at the Kerr-Addison mine in Virginiatown, Ontario, the largest gold producer in North America. Like many miners, his mining career led him and his family across Canada. He has been a hard rock miner in such places as the Kerr-Addison in Ontario and the Matagami in Quebec, as well a few mines in the Yukon.

Tim is a good example of a miner who picked up skills in many places. He shared his story of how miners learned their trade in the early fifties. Tim came to BC toward the end of his career in mining.

Tim’s Story

“I was eighteen years old in 1956 when I went into the mine. An old man at Kerr-Addison taught me how to work a square set. Square set is a method of putting up posts and beams to support the walls and ceiling of a mine. There were eight of us just starting out and when the old guy finished training us, he put us together in pairs and we carried on from there, so there were two men for each place being worked. This was as close to going to school for mining as I got; I was always trained on the job. It was how they did things back then.

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