Michael Goehring

News of another major mine inching closer to opening in BC’s northwest touched off a buzz in a region that has become more accustomed to absorbing job losses during a major downturn in the forestry sector. The mine proposal, Skeena Resources’s project to reopen the mothballed Eskay Creek gold mine, would mean more than 1,000 construction jobs to convert the underground mine to open-pit operations, then some 770 permanent jobs to run the facility. Eskay Creek environmental permit advances one of 24 major mine proposals across BC’s North. …BC’s main forest industry group, the Council of Forest Industries, has counted 21 permanent or indefinite sawmill closures since 2023 and 15,000 direct job losses in the sector since 2022. And while development of mining projects on the list is likely to unfold over decades, Association CEO Michael Goehring is confident “mining projects have the potential to offset or partially offset those job losses.”