By Mat Barrett

Star Diamond, Rio Tinto to hold open house in Melfort

Jan 14, 2019 | 4:00 PM

Representatives from Star Diamond Corporation and Rio Tinto are scheduled to be in Melfort, Sask. next month.

An open house is set for Feb. 7 at the Kerry Vickar Centre for Star Diamond and Rio Tinto to answer any questions about the Star Diamond Exploration site at Fort a La Corne, Sask. It also gives a chance for the companies to let citizens in the area to know the current plans, and possible future plans of the project.

City of Melfort Community Development Manager, Brent Lutz, said the open house is more of an update to the communities.

“There’s been work going on there for years,” Lutz told northeastNOW. “Originally by Shore Gold, now renamed Star Diamond, who continue to work on the site but they are now partnered with Rio Tinto, who are doing further exploration on the site. This is an exciting development for the project and they want to get out into the communities and just explain what they are doing on site now and where it might lead to.”

Lutz said the open house will allow people to learn more about the future of the project if it does continue including how many people may be working there. He said it’s also a good opportunity for businesses in the area.

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“I think they also want to gather information on their own behalf of what the communities surrounding the exploration site have to offer,” Lutz said. “So, it’s a great opportunity if you’re in business in this region to show up to the open house and let them know what kind of services you provide or what kind of products that you have available and possibly even find out what some of their future needs might be and be able to gear up your business to provide a new product or service.”

Lutz said that if the project continues further into becoming a mine, it could have a great impact on the region.

“Should the project move to the mining stage,” Lutz said. “The plan is to have people travel to the site to work there. They would probably be looking at numbers in the area of four, five, six hundred people to work. It’s a massive project and certainly it would have a huge regional impact on all the communities in this area should we find an employer that’s employing that many people.”

The open house will run from 5 to 8 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 7.

mat.barrett@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @matbarrett6