New Acland Mine General Manager, Dave O’Dwyer said the job offers were 15 years in the making following the protracted approvals process.

“It was a privilege to extend 10 job offers to local workers just before Christmas so we can increase our initial ramp up activities at the mine immediately after the holiday break,” Mr O’Dwyer said.

“These 10, are the first of hundreds of job offers which will be extended to truck drivers, engineers, electricians, operators, administration staff and mechanics in the coming months.

“In mid-January the New Hope Group team will establish a Job Assessment Centre and hold a series of sessions with potential New Acland Mine employees to determine their suitability for roles on site.

“These sessions will include one-on-one interviews, aptitude tests and group activities.

“Following the sessions, we will the next end job offers to approximately 80 new workers who will form our initial production team.

“As we progress with our ramp up plan during the next 18 months – twoyears, we will reopen the Job Assessment Centre and continue to grow our production team until we reach steady state.”

To date, New Hope Group has received more than 1,250 expressions of interest for jobs at New Acland Mine.

“The recruitment process is well and truly underway, with numerous job advertisements now live,” Mr O’Dwyer said.

“Workers who have previously expressed an interest in working at New Acland Mine will receive an email when a suitable role becomes available, so they can submit a formal application.”

At the peak of construction there will be close to 600 local workers in site at New Acland Mine. Throughout the life of the project, the permanent workforce will be approximately 400 full-time roles.

Work on New Acland Stage 3 began last month.