$10M housing facility coming to Gogama sawmill

Timmins -

Workers in remote areas often live there for a large portion of the year, as is the case at EACOM Timber's Gogama sawmill.

Many of mill's housing facilities have aged well past their usability, which is why the company is spending $10 million to construct a 44-unit complex, complete with housekeeping and catering.

Where workers have typically had to clean and cook for themselves, on top of working up to 13 hour days for up to seven days at a time, the mill's manager said the news was a relief to him and his crew.

"The idea is to get rid of some of these older units, that are well past their life and are very expensive to maintain, knock them down and introduce a maintained living quarters for these guys," said Michael Leitch.

A project two years in the making, the hope is that the new facility will both give current workers comfortable and convenient housing, plus attract new workers.

"Having somewhere that has a food service, when we're out in the middle of nowhere, is a benefit to people and hopefully they see that and there's more interest to work somewhere remote like this," Leitch said.