The Cariboo Gold Project, a new underground mine in Wells, is expected to create around 460 full-time jobs.
Alex Callahan, spokesperson for Osisko Development, says 75 percent of those jobs will be filled by people in the Cariboo.
And Callahan says some training is already underway.
“Right now folks are doing in-class training. They will shift to hands on training, mostly after the winter holidays, and they’ll have training on all sorts of the equipment that is going to be used underground in the Cariboo Gold Project. They’re going to have hands-on opportunities to use equipment that is being used right now by the Barkerville Gold Mine. And they are expected to graduate in mid February, and we look forward to having them join the team.”
That training is for 12 people and runs for 12 weeks with the in-class training taking place at the College of New Caledonia.
Callahan says this is just the start.
“We look forward to having lots more training opportunities as we get closer to the date that we’re hoping to have the environmental assessment completed by. It’s a pretty serious commitment to having 3/4’s of the workforce come from the region, so we absolutely going to be having more training opportunities as time goes by.”
Here, Callahan goes over how people can make sure that they don’t miss out on an opportunity.
“There are going to be positions for all sorts of things throughout the Cariboo Gold Project, and I would strongly encourage people to keep an eye on the Facebook page. Also you can keep an eye on CaribooGold.com, and if you’re interested to make sure that none of the training opportunities get past you, you can even reach out to the community office in Wells.”
Callahan says being an underground miner is once of the most in demand jobs in the mining sector, and they are making sure that local folks have access to the training that they are going to need to have careers with the Cariboo Gold Project.