‘We’re at the very early stage’: Diamond mine open houses set expectations

“We’re at the very early stage and it may or may not happen,” Hodgkinson said. “We really want to make sure everyone understands the facts about the project, and we get that level of expectation right. The second and equally important objective for these open houses is to listen to the communities and find out what their concerns and interests are, so we can start building up that relationship.

“Because the sooner that we do that, the better it will be for us as we start developing the program.”

Hodgkinson said the key aspect of the diamond project at Fort a la Corne is to understand the whole body of the area and its kimberlites.

“They’re by far the biggest kimberlites in the world,” he said. “The diamond quality is actually really good, but they do have a very low grain, meaning that there are not many diamonds in the kimberlites. What we try to do now is get confidence in the amount of diamonds that are there to see if it’s going to be economic.”

Until Star Diamond and Rio Tinto determine if there are enough diamonds in the kimberlite to justify a full-time operation, the diamond project at Fort a la Corne will be in its early stages to gather large sample sizes.

However, Hodgkinson did mention there is room for employment in the early stages, depending on the service supplier.

“On site at the moment we’ve got drilling works, general maintenance, road maintenance, catering, a bit of construction work going on, so those are the top job opportunities that will be around,” he said.

“It’s not a big operation right now. We have a 90-person camp out there and about 75 to 85 people over the first two months of this year. You’re not looking at massive job opportunities but as the project grows, hopefully those opportunities will become more.”

Hodgkinson said they don’t need a huge amount of people during the early stages, although they are looking for workers such as experienced geoscientists, drill operators, electricians, heavy duty vehicle drivers, road maintenance workers, and welders.

The number of full-time workers needed if the diamond project at Fort a la Corne is still undetermined, as Star Diamond and Rio Tinto still need to examine the whole body of the area.

If the project gets the green light, the plans appears to be hiring as many workers as close to the project as possible.

“It makes logical sense to try and hire people as close as possible to the project,” Hodgkinson said. “It builds the community and gets that good relationship going, so we would try and hire as many people as possible from the local communities. What that number is going to be is very difficult to tell right now.

“What we’re doing in terms of these open houses is trying to understand what the capacity is out there, what type of people are out there that are looking for work, and what type of services can be provided.

“As we go into the future, we’ll also look at what type of training opportunities need to be built within the communities to develop those type of skills we would need for running an operation.”

Another open house on the diamond project at Fort a la Corne will be held in Nipawin tonight, Feb. 8 at the Evergreen Centre.

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aaron.schulze@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @SchulzePANow

by Aaron Schulze

‘We’re at the very early stage’: Diamond mine open houses set expectations

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