The rural municipality of Greenstone is building a regional skills training centre to prepare a future labour force for the Ring of Fire mineral deposits.
Queen’s Park and Ottawa are each investing $1.75 million to build a 13,500-square-foot building at the Greenstone airport. The facility will be run by the Geraldton Community Forest, a not-for-profit organization.
FedNor Minister Greg Rickford and Northern Development and Mines Minister Michael Gravelle were in Geraldton on Jan. 20 to make the announcement.
The building will house 10 training rooms, meeting rooms, a computer lab and offices.
A joint federal-provincial news release said this initiative will create 27 jobs and 30 construction jobs.
“Given our relative proximity to the Ring of Fire,” said Sam Drajanoff, chair of the Geraldton Community Forest, “this facility will help us meet the labour force needs right here in our own region while accommodating external training providers.”
