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Job seekers should be on alert for mine company

Miners looking for work in the Sudbury area are being warned about the potential for an online fraud scheme that’s set up to bilk prospective employees out of money.
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Red Maple Mining claims to have a producing open-pit mine in Sudbury.

Miners looking for work in the Sudbury area are being warned about the potential for an online fraud scheme that’s set up to bilk prospective employees out of money.

According to its website, Red Maple Mining purports to have an operating open-pit mine in the Sudbury area, producing copper and platinum group metals.

“We also have active, partner-funded exploration underway for nickel, copper and PGMs,” reads the website’s company description. “Outside Of Sudbury, Maple Mining Co has active exploration for copper and gold in British Colombia [sic] do [sic] to it’s [sic] current partnerships.”

A job ad on the classifieds website Kijiji sparked concern about the authenticity of the company, and several complaints about the ad have popped up on social media.

The company claims to be looking to fill a number of positions, including general labourer, underground operations supervisor, underground contractor supervisor, underground mining engineer, field technician, underground miner, electrician, diesel mechanic, and RCM technician.

As part of the application process, applicants are asked to provide their social insurance number and their credit card number. The credit card is needed, the website says, so the company can conduct a “background and abstract drivers [sic] check.” The website said applicants will be charged $9.95 for the service.

“You will only be charged this fee if your application gets passed to a phone interview,” the website reads. “This is a required application fee and MUST be paid before the interview process. You will be reimbursed this fee in full IF you complete three (3) full weeks of employment.”

The website has its own logo, has several photos from mining sites, and uses industry terminology.

However, it’s also riddled with spelling and grammatical errors, and lacks basic information normally provided by legitimate mining companies, including the names of its management team and board members, contact information (aside from a generic email address), and details about the supposed mineralization and location of the mine.

An email placed to Red Maple Mining bounced back as undeliverable with the message “no such user here.”