At last night open house at Telkwa elementary school CEO of Telkwa Coal, Mark Gray says The Telkwa Coal project is moving forward with permitting.
If all goes well, he says they would be able to start construction in the next 18- 24 months.
Gray says the mine will bring 100 full-time jobs to the community as well as an additional 100 and 150 contractors.
“We expect all of our workforce to come from the Bulkley Valley, there is already a well-trained mining workforce here who live here and they fly in and out of northwest gold and copper mines,” said Gray.
Some of the approvals rely on environmental assessments on the impact the project will have in the area.
“There is a lot of support from the community, but everyone is fairly consistent in the view that they want responsible mining and that the environmental impact will be minimal,” said Gray.
After the environmental assessments, Gray says they will work to make sure they do not exceed any government thresholds on the ecological impact.
The next open house will not be until next spring, but Gray says anyone with questions is welcome to stop by their office any afternoon
The office is on the upper level of the village of Telkwa office off Highway 16.