Southern Ont. drilling services company expanding to North Bay

City of North Bay sign.

North Bay City Council has approved the sale of land to the Landshark Group of Companies for the development of its northern headquarters, the city said in an email to CTV News.

"With more than 100 employees, Landshark Group is comprised of five separate companies servicing large infrastructure, heavy construction, energy and environmental investigations and remediation," the company said in a news release.

"Dean Gough, the president and founder of Landshark and a former resident of North Bay, is excited about making North Bay the base of its northern Ontario operations and a primary service center."

The new facility is being built on roughly 4.5 acres of land in the south end of the city with construction expected to start next spring.

"North Bay will become a strategic operational and training location to service other more northern temporary large project-specific bases," Gough said. "With our main office in Brantford, Ont., the Landshark Group now services much of the province with specific focus on establishing permanent brick and mortar locations in high growth areas such as North Bay."

During the initial start-up, 17 full-time jobs are expected to be created with additional employment opportunities afterward.

"This is an exciting project for North Bay and we’re pleased Dean and his team have selected our community as their northern base of operations," North Bay Mayor Al McDonald said in a news release. "Our team looks forward to helping facilitate this project in the Gateway Industrial Business Park and supporting the company’s future growth in North Bay."

Landshark will offer geotechnical and environmental drilling, hydro-excavation, industrial services, private locating and fleet maintenance and service out of the new facility.