Pirie’s 2020 vision: Jobs, growth – by Elena De Luigi (Timmins Daily Press – December 31, 2019)

https://www.timminspress.com/

More jobs and industry projects are coming to Timmins in 2020, according to Mayor George Pirie. In an interview, he told The Daily Press his New Year’s resolutions for the city involve stimulating the economy with more jobs and industry projects to move the city forward.

Pirie detailed a number of initiatives, including an announcement on the status of IAMGOLD Corporation’s Côté Lake Gold Project. The billion-dollar mining project is close to getting its environmental permits approved while continuing its development by de-risking, drilling and adding resources.

Access to Côté Lake was also the reason the city asked the Ministry of Transportation to increase the speed limit from 80 to 90 kilometres per hour on Hwy. 101 West.

“That’s a project that’s incredibly important to Timmins. It’s a very good project. There’s greater than 10 million ounces in resources there,” Pirie said, adding if the project moves forward, there will be 1,000 jobs during construction, and over 400 permanent jobs. With the close proximity of the mine to Timmins, the city could experience some economic growth.

Pirie said he expects the announcement to come in the new year, which would be “a nice offset” to the loss of jobs from the closure of the Victor Diamond Mine in May 2019. Pirie has not given up on the Victor Mine, which is located near Attawapiskat First Nation. He said the mine could be “rescued” with the right agreement between the province, DeBeers Canada and the First Nation community.

In terms of Kidd Creek, Pirie said he is not anticipating any significant announcements, although they may look to finalize the closure date for either 2022 or 2023, with no change to the timeline.

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