Yellowknife (Dec 06/06) - A Northern joint venture company has signed a one-year, $2-million contract, which has already translated into jobs for Northerners.

Metcrete Services has agreed to produce 42,000 metric tonnes of shotcrete for BHP Billiton's Ekati diamond mine, said Bill Enge, president of the North Slave Metis Alliance.

The company - a branch of Metcor, the North Slave Metis Alliance's business arm - currently employs 14 Northerners.

"This contract gives us the basis to grow and expand our business," said Enge.

In August, Metcor and its joint venture partner, Multicrete Systems of Winnipeg, created Metcrete Services.

The new company received $250,000 in September from the Mine Training Society to train 16 Northerners as shotcrete nozzlepersons.

Now, 14 of those trainees are mixing shotcrete, a sprayed on concrete material used to strengthen mine corridors.

The employees are working at two shotcrete batching plants in Edmonton and northern Winnipeg, said Enge.

After the shotcrete is mixed, 110 loads will be trucked from the plants to Yellowknife. It will then be transported by RTL Robinson Enterprises via ice road to the Ekati diamond mine, he said.

"Real business and real jobs are flowing into the North," Enge said.

Metcrete Services may be a new local venture, but Ekati diamond mine wouldn't have signed onto the contract unless the company lived up to international standards, said Sean Brennan, president and chief operating officer with Ekati.

"We expect our people to be world class," he said.

As the Ekati diamond mine continues to shift its focus into underground operations, shotcrete application will become more essential, said Brennan.

While Metcrete will produce shotcrete in the south this year, the company will to open a batching plant in Yellowknife in the near future, Enge said.

Metcrete also hopes to expand its services to other diamond mines in the North and is "open for discussion" with other companies, according to Enge. "This contract really gives us the basis to grow our business."