pA survey of diamond mine employees has found that recreational opportunities, closeness to family and friends and cost of living are all key factors when they are thinking about moving to or from the Northwest Territories.br /
Released today, the 2009 NWT Survey of Mining Employees was produced by the NWT Bureau of Statistics on behalf of the Government of the Northwest Territories and the three NWT diamond mine companies: BHP Billiton Canada Inc., Diavik Diamond Mines Inc., and De Beers Canada Inc. The surveyrsquo;s goal was to find out what factors motivate diamond mine employees in their decisions about residing in the NWT./p
pldquo;The information obtained in this survey will be invaluable as the Government of the Northwest Territories and the diamond mining companies search for ways to attract more diamond mine employees to live in the NWT, and to retain the ones already living here,rdquo; says the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment Bob McLeod./p
pDirect employees from all three mines and contract employees of two of the mines were targeted in the survey. Of the employees that were targeted, 93.5 percent responded to the survey./p
pThe survey will be analyzed by the government and the diamond mining companies to determine the opportunities and challenges there are in attracting more diamond mine employees to live in the NWT and keeping the employees already living in the territory./p
pThe survey is one aspect of the efforts to increase employment of NWT residents at the diamond mines as outlined under the Northern Mining Workforce Initiative Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). The MOU was signed in 2008 by the Ministers of Education, Culture and Employment and Industry, Tourism and Investment and the presidents of the three diamond mines./p
