New investment and increased employment opportunities are coming to the Northeast as a result of the upswing in coal prices. Western Coal announced their fiscal 2011 operating plans and the highlight for this region is the investment of $260 million.

“About 90 per cent of our spending in the next fiscal year, which goes from April 2010 to April 2011, is earmarked for Northeast BC,” said Western Coal Canadian chief operation officer Craig Dirk. Chetwynd stands to gain the most from the planned expansion as Western’s plans focus on the reopening of Willow Creek mine and the expansion of Brule mine, both in proximity to that community.

Currently, Western employs 470 people in their Northeast operations, however, that number is projected to rise to 1,000 within the next two or three years, Dirk told NWB.

“We’ve had a number of job fairs up in Tumbler Ridge, up in Chetwynd and several of the first nation communities, and we are currently in the process of following through on those interviews and making employment opportunities available,” said Dirk.

“There may be some special skill sets that we need to find elsewhere but over the course of time we want to build that capability up within our communities so that as we continue to expand and grow we hire people that have a vested interest in the area and are likely to go and stay in the area or come from the area.”

Even though he’s optimistic based on the job fair responses, which he said were “fantastic”, Dirk admitted that attracting and retaining skilled workers was something Western was concerned about.

Trades, said Dirk, was one area where there may be more competition for workers since activity in the region’s oil and gas industry is poised to speed up. Even there, however, Western plans to work toward a greater local capacity.

In the last few years, poor mark

et conditions and transportation problems have kept a cap on their activity in the Northeast. In explaining why the company was willing to invest so heavily in the area, Dirk mentioned the region has port accessibility and a good rail system, both of which he said were “under utilized”.

“We intend to invest in the region, the mines that we have up there, the communities and their people…”

~ Craig Dirk

When pressed further, he went on to say that Ridley Terminals, the Prince Rupert port used by Western to access their primary markets in Asia, could still pose problems.

“We have some concerns just about that Ridley Terminal remains government owned and doesn’t go into private hands and (we) continue to work with both communities (where we operate), Ridley Terminals and with our government to try and protect that because it is absolutely critical to our long-term success to have access to the port,” he said.

“Beyond that, we haven’t anticipated any problems with either the rail or Ridley terminals.”

Western, nearly bankrupt in 2007, has had it’s share of problems but despite them, has crawled out of the pit to grow enough where they can to not only offer substantial investment in the Northeast, but also to be counted among Canada’s largest 200 companies.

Early March, Western announced they had achieved a milestone with their inclusion in the S&P/TSX Composite Index effective at the market open on March 22. The Composite is the headline index for Canada, and the principal benchmark measure for the Canadian equity markets.

This greater prominence in the investment community will allow the company to leverage additional capital and reduce costs – something that should filter down to this region.

“I think the success in our growth is that we’re able to react quickly…Western has really gone from Western Canadian Coal, which was fully dependent on one area, one set of markets, to where it’s now a much more stable company with operations in the United States and the UK,” said Dirk.

The bulk of their operations do remain in this region and the indications from Western are that this is something that will continue.

“I would just like to reemphasize one more time that Western Coal believes that Northeast BC is a good place to go and invest. That over the next few years, there will be a strong demand for our products from the steel makers and our primary markets in Asia and that’s again reflected in the strong price of coal we’re seeing this year,” said Dirk.

“We intend to invest in the region, the mines that we have up there, the communities and their people to continue to strengthen our presence and our ability to go and supply these markets.”