A slew of coming new industrial development has the Town of Atikokan rolling out the welcome mat to investors.
With a new gold mine on the horizon and several other job-creating developments on the schedule, the northwestern Ontario community anticipates a flood of construction workers in the very near future, followed by a wave of permanent jobs in mining, power generation and wood pellet manufacturing.
The municipality has released an accommodations study to entice builders, developers and investors to beat a path to the former iron ore mining town, 180 km west of Thunder Bay.
New construction from six major projects indicates about 2,740 man years of work followed by 908 permanent jobs.
Osisko Mining expects to have 14 years of gold production if its Hammond Reef open pit operation starts up in 2016.
Ontario Power Generation's former coal burning plant is being converted to handle wood pellets, and a start-up company, Atikokan Renewable Fuels, is refurbishing the former Fibratech particleboard plant, to make pellets. There are also more spinoffs expected if Bending Lake Iron Group develops its iron ore property near Ignace, to the north.
“We have commissioned a study which outlines how we can get ready and meet the various accommodation demands we expect to see with the new construction,” said Mayor Dennis Brown in a press release.
The municipality is taking its message to Thunder Bay this week for an invitation-only investors presentation at the Whitewater Golf Course, July 25.
“We are getting ready so all we need is to showcase the investment potential to those who would want to make a solid investment,” said Brown.
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