Sure. Thank you.
It absolutely makes business sense. One point of clarification, though, before the full committee believes that our Thompson operations have a 50% turnover every couple of years. Just for clarity, the 50% turnover is new hires. So in the first two years of employment we lose 50% of that particular population. We have a fairly stable workforce who are long-term residents of Thomson, and so on. It's still very alarming. I think our Thompson facility has the highest turnover rate.
Compare that to a Voisey's Bay environment, where the majority, upwards of 85% to 90%, of the workforce is from the local area, the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. The turnover rate there is 5% to 6%, quite dramatically lower.
No question, it makes total business to invest locally. And investing is not just the hiring of those people; it's investing in the training of those individuals. You are far better off at the end of the day with a more stable workforce, a long-term workforce. They're individuals who have made the decision to reside in a northern area. They like it. They've got the ties to the area. It makes far better business sense to invest locally, yes.