The Cariboo region is set to see another gold mine project.
Barkerville Gold Mines is undertaking exploration, planning, permitting and reclamation activities near Wells, and presented to Williams Lake city council on Tuesday night.
The project includes an underground mine, a surface concentrator, and associated facilities near Wells; waste rock storage at Bonanza Ledge mine; processing facilities at QR Mill; a transmission line from Barlow Substation to the mine site; and use of existing roads.
Construction of the mine is estimated to create around 250 jobs, with the mine’s operation creating an estimated 460 jobs.
Williams Lake Mayor Walt Cobb said that though the project isn’t in the City, it can still impact.
“A gold mine in the Cariboo is good for everybody. As a Cariboo region, we’ve always said that we aren’t an island onto ourselves, we need the whole region to be prosperous, and I think the 460 jobs for Wells will certainly make a big difference at the end of the day,” he said. “It’s not that far away; people can live in Williams Lake and work in Wells if they so wish. I think any development in our community is good news.”
Cobb said that many communities in the Cariboo would benefit from the mine.
“The revenue would be the jobs, the people, the taxes they pay, but also the spin-off,” he said. “Every community doesn’t have industrial machine jobs, welding jobs, and they will be using a lot of local work, so it will help a lot of the smaller businesses as well to provide services to them.”
The mine is expected to take two years to construct and operate for 16 years.