Ghali Zbadi - BEng. Mining Engineering - MIEA Ambassador

I would like to express my gratitude to Mr. Schull and Ms. Yang for supporting me during my internship in Morocco in summer 2021. I was very pleased and grateful to learn that I was chosen as one of the recipients of a donation and I would like to sincerely thank them for it.

Starting from May 2021, I was given the opportunity to work as a geology intern for Atlantis Metal, a Moroccan company active in the Anti-Atlas region. Because of the COVID-19 situation in Morocco where I was living at the time, the internship was conducted remotely. However, I still chose to partake in an international co-op term as it allowed me to gain knowledge on the mining industry outside of Canada.

Atlantis Metal is a geology consulting firm specialized in hydrogeology, geoengineering, applied geophysics, GIS, and the environment. The company’s main focus is the exploration and exploitation of natural resources and the protection of the environment and ecosystems of Morocco. As an intern, I was tasked with writing geologic reports on mining permits for clients but also on behalf of the company when writing official reports to be submitted to the Ministère de l’Energie, des Mines et de l’Environnement. To write these reports, I was required to perform bibliographic research on the regions of the mining permits to understand their geological context. I was also required to use the GIS software I was trained to operate to delineate the mining permits and create various geological and topographical maps and cross-sections. Another task assigned to me was the estimation of the potential reserves based on the data collected in the field and using assumptions on the morphology of the orebodies determined from nearby workings. I was also tasked with the interpretation of the data from the digitized results of the geophysics surveys.

Some of the highlights of my internship include the supervision of the building of a water well for nomadic tribes in the Fam El Hisn mining permit, the production of a geologic map from scratch and assisting in the electric survey of a quarry in Koudiet El Azri. The different classes I have taken at McGill were very useful at times as they gave me the tools to complete the tasks that were assigned to me. For example, the surveying class MIME 203 helped me with the calculation of the mining permits’ coordinates.

I had various learning objectives during my internship. Some of them included learning how to operate GIS software to produce maps and familiarize myself with the writing of technical reports. I was successful in fulfilling these objectives and this internship was an excellent addition to my engineering training. It taught me working methods that I had not seen before during my studies and it allowed me to develop very important interpersonal skills for my future career by interacting with multiple parties including clients and government representatives.

The award I received from Mr. Schull and Ms. Yang has had a profound impact on my motivation during the more difficult times of my internship as it reminded me of the chance I had to partake in it. The funds I received were used to pay for my daily activities in Morocco, as the internship was unpaid.

I would like to thank Mr. Schull and Ms. Yang again for making this experience possible.

 

Ghali is an MIEA Ambassador 2021-2022!