“It’s a big deal when a company moves its head office,” said Matt Manson, President and CEO of Stornoway Diamonds. “It’s a statement that we’re making.”
Manson, along with Vice-President Patrick Godin, announced June 1 that Stornoway would be moving its head office from northern B.C. to the Montreal area. Manson explained that the move reflects the importance of the Stornoway-owned Renard Diamond Project in the Otish Mountains.
“Renard is a big deal,” said Manson. “It’s $800 million of capital investment, it’s 450-500 jobs. We see Renard as a project that’s going to be mining diamonds successfully for many years. Montreal has the expertise, the engineering talents, the logistics, [and] the investment base.”
According to Godin, the head office will employ 40 to 50 people. Aside from pledging to hire a high proportion of its Renard workforce from Quebec’s Cree and Jamesien communities, Godin expressed the company’s desire to involve those communities on the management side as well.
“It’s our wish,” said Godin. “We’ll have specific training for people who want to be promoted, and we’ll have a promotion plan, developed with the Cree, to raise them as much as we can within our operation.”
