New molybdenum mine to hire B.C., Yukon workers

A Vancouver company building a new molybdenum mine near Atlin, B.C., says it will look to northern British Columbia and the Yukon for hiring hundreds of workers this winter.

Adanac Molybdenum Corp. has started construction of an open-pit mine 24 kilometres northeast of Atlin at Ruby Creek, B.C.

Atlin is in northwestern B.C. near the Yukon border, 150 kilometres south of Whitehorse.

The company announced a $450-million financing deal on Thursday with a U.S. investment bank for the mine project.

Company president Michael MacLeod told CBC News the company has just finished building offices in the town and is assembling a 50-person construction camp at Surprise Lake in B.C., which is 20 kilometres northeast of Atlin.

The construction team will help upgrade the road into the mine, MacLeod said, adding that it's just the start of a $600-million operation that could make Adanac the first company in 25 years to open a new major molybdenum mine.

"We are going to start construction as soon as we get the appropriate approvals, and we intend to work right straight through the winter," MacLeod said Thursday.

"We're looking at a workforce peaking during construction of somewhere between 650 and 700 people."

Once the road is finished, MacLeod said he hopes to build a much larger camp at the mine site starting this winter.

He added that his company will look to northern communities in B.C., such as Atlin, or Yukon communities such as Tagish, Carcross, Teslin, and Whitehorse "as potential sources for labour and contractors."

Adanac believes there are millions of pounds of the rare silver-white metal at the Atlin property. MacLeod said the mine will turn out 10 million pounds of molybdenum every year for the next 20 years.

Molybdenum is used to make alloys used in gun barrels, ballistic missiles and nuclear reactors. Its price is just over $30 a pound, up from just $4 a pound a decade ago.