These past fifteen months have been a time of adversity for many of us as we navigate the challenges brought about by COVID-19. In response, we have seen many examples of our community in Telkwa, Smithers and the Bulkley-Nechako Valley, coming together to support one another. We will emerge from this pandemic stronger and more resilient than before.
For Telkwa Coal, we believe resiliency is about how we consider the social, economic and environmental factors in our actions and decisions. We believe in responsible mining and the role our company must play.
From a social perspective, it is about ongoing and respectful relationships with our Indigenous and local communities. This involves listening and doing our best to address concerns. It is also about supporting the most vulnerable in our community and the causes that matter to all of us. And, once operating, it is always keeping the health and safety of our employees and the community well-being top-of-mind.
Economically, building resilience is about having an operation that can weather the storms of inevitable economic cycles. That means building our mine in a way that ensures that we can manage these fluctuations and maintain our skilled workforce. It also means hiring and procuring locally, just as we have done so far.
For us, responsible mining means the environment is the highest priority. How we operate, manage the land and water we use is carefully planned and considered, and our responsibility is to minimize any effect we may have. When mining activity is complete, we will rehabilitate the land with the goal of establishing multiple-use forest ecosystems for wildlife habitat, recreation, the potential for forest harvest in appropriate areas, and traditional land uses.
We believe that our project can support community resiliency by contributing to a diversified economy, strengthening the social fabric by providing local jobs for local people while operating in a safe and environmentally responsible manner. This is our commitment to you. We believe we can and are doing this, and we thank our friends and neighbours for this opportunity.
