Established in 1980, Northern Ontario Business provides Canadians and international investors with relevant, current and insightful editorial content and business news information about Ontario’s vibrant and resource-rich North. Ian Ross is the editor of Northern Ontario Business ianross@nob.on.ca.
A slew of coming new industrial development has the Town of Atikokan rolling out the welcome mat to investors. The sleepy northwestern Ontario town of 3,300 is making early preparations to host one of Canada’s largest open-pit gold mines.
The municipality has released an accommodations study to entice builders to beat a path down Highway 11 to the former iron ore mining town, 180 km west of Thunder Bay. With a new mine on the horizon and several other job-creating developments on the schedule, the town anticipates a surge of construction workers arriving in the very near future, followed by the more permanent jobs in mining, power generation and wood pellet manufacturing.
A report by Crupi Consulting of Thunder Bay said Atikokan is facing a severe shortage of housing with “almost zero availability” for homes and rental units. Five major development projects, plus an addition onto the hospital, could create an estimated 1,500 to 1,700 construction jobs over the next five to seven years, followed by the promise of as many as 800 to 1,000 permanent jobs.