SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Diavik is planning to rehire 150 workers to start developing its $800-million underground mine project, scheduled to open in early 2010, according to the company's director of community and corporate affairs.

Diavik plans to hire 150 employees to help convert from an open pit mine, seen here, to an underground operation by 2012. Diavik hopes to hire as many Northern aboriginal workers as possible, while pushing southern hires to relocate North. - NNSL file photo

Pat McCloskey said the company plans to focus its hiring on qualified Northern and aboriginal workers, adding the company will encourage southern hires to relocate to the NWT.

"We recognize there are limited abilities for some of the higher-skilled categories because there aren't many people in the North who have underground experience," McCloskey said. "(A) transition plan (is) in place to develop our Northern aboriginal workforce to move them up through the ranks. It's going to take some time but certainly the levels that require little or no underground experience will be a Northern workforce."

McCloskey said there will be at least 40 entry-level positions available and it's the company's hope to have those positions filled by aboriginal and Northern workers.

The company is focused on having new hires from the south move to the North. To aid this, Diavik has moved the point of pick up to Yellowknife from Edmonton and is pushing economic incentives to make relocation North more enticing, McCloskey said.

"There are incentives in terms of Northern allowance for our employees to live in the North and our desire to have them live here," he said. "We're trying to make it as palatable (and) at the same time make it very (clear) to the new employees that we want them living in the North."

Ellie Sasseville, executive director of the Yellowknife Chamber of Commerce, said the group is extremely excited about the new jobs coming North and the dedication Diavik is showing to have their workforce live in the territory.

"Super pumped to hear that," she said. "We couldn't be more thrilled to hear that. It means they're looking to hire more people who are interested in investing in this community."

If 75 new hires were to relocate to the North, it would generate an additional $1.65 million in transfer payments from the federal government and bring millions of new dollars to be spent in the territory, something Sasseville is pleased to hear.

"Obviously Diavik has given this a lot of thought and it appears they are making a better effort to ensure their hires live here in the North and help to make sure people are spending their money in the North."

McCloskey said the company received about 2,100 applications from across Canada and about 15 per cent of those were from the North. The hires would increase the Diavik workforce to about 1,000 people.

"Initially there will be an increase because we'll be running both an open pit operation and underground operation from 2010 to 2012," he said, with the mine expected to be completely underground by 2012. "For a while we'll be up to 1,000 employees, but eventually we will drop down to about 600 employees once we shut down the open pit operation all together."

With the recent cancellation of a scheduled winter shutdown and now the 150 jobs, McCloskey said a strengthening economy is sending things in a more positive direction.

"There has certainly been enough of an economic improvement to commit to these projects at this time," he said, adding the company still have a long way to go to get to where we were a year and a half ago.