Joe Barrett’s talk to council came before the goverment made notifaction it would sell or lease the mine.

There is huge potential in your unskilled workforce right now, he said.

“Wellington can benefit from this project,” Mr Barrett said.

“The proponent sees a huge opportunity for people to get skills and we have already talked with your mayor about getting Wellington mine ready.”

The Cobbora Mine project borders the Wellington shire at Elong Elong, 22 kilometres south west of Dunedoo and 64kms north-west at Mudgee.

There might be one minor snag with the state government trying to sell or lease the Cobbora Mine, but that shouldn’t stop its momentum, the Times understands.

Mr Barrett spoke with councilors at Wednesday’s ordinary meeting, with Cr Lisa Austin and Mr Barrett believing Wellington’s youth had the future skills to fill the mine’s workforce.

Mr Barrett said they were already speaking with schools and TAFE about training.

“The prospect of Wellington supplying a workforce for the mine is very important,” he said.

Cr Shirley Drysdale referenced the Hunter Valley and how the workforce there had come from many areas.

“We are looking at a similar situation to that, where we could actually bus the workforce from Wellington into the mine and the end of the day bring them back home,” Mr Barrett said.

“We are very keen on talking with the community here and business about the possibilities in relation to the mine. We would like to grow the workforce from the local population.

“Mudgee has enormous pressure with several other mines and Dubbo is further away, so Wellington has opportunity.”

The mine holding company was formed in January to develop the state owned entity within NSW Treasury.

“The mine project team has conducted extensive hydrological modeling and mad determinations in relation to any impact on the environment,” Mr Barrett said

Construction is scheduled for 2013, operation by 2015.