Late last month a group of local leaders took an invitation from BHP Billiton to tour the Jansen site and hear how the company is progressing.

Community Liaison Officer Ann Paton tells us why they brought the group of 13 out to the site.

"Following the municipal elections that were held in the fall we saw a lot of changes in local leadership and we like to have a strong relationship with our communities so we thought a tour of the Jansen project and spending some time with our new local leadership would be a great way to provide an update, answer questions and continue with that great working relationship we have."

Paton added they are progressing well, they are continuing to sink their two shafts, meanwhile the construction of their over 2,500 population camp is complete.

"Things are going really well, we're continuing with the work on our shafts and we're progressing really well with those. As you know the camp is complete, we did provide a tour for our guests through our 2,586 person "Discovery Lodge Camp."

They also provided a bus tour of the some other surface area facilities.

"We had some pretty good discussions following our tours," Paton added. "The guests did express their appreciation for the opportunity and frequently mentioned that they appreciated our focus on safety and the environment."

They are inviting the public to an open house in LeRoy on Friday featuring the mining company's environment team, they will have presentations at 11 o'clock and 1pm.

The address is 105, 1st Avenue South. You can call 306.286.4411 for more information.

You can also hear more from Paton below who spoke with Bolt FM's Clark Stork.