Thompson, Manitoba is seeing a surge in high-paying mining jobs as Vale Base Metals actively recruits for several positions at its nickel operations. The company has listings for roles that pay well above the local living wage, including heavy equipment operators, miners, mechanical engineers, mining engineers, and mine survey technicians.
According to the Job Bank, there are 34 job openings within 50 kilometres of Thompson as of July 8, 2026. Vale’s postings offer some of the highest wages in the region. A miner can earn between $28 and $56 an hour, while a mining engineer could make from $37 to over $115 an hour. Even entry-level roles like mine survey technician start at $20.95 an hour, surpassing local living wage estimates of $17.89 to $18.35 an hour.
The hiring push comes after a major ownership change announced in February 2026. Vale Base Metals, along with Exiro Minerals, Orion Resource Partners, and the Canada Growth Fund, created a consortium to invest $280 million into the Thompson nickel belt. The new entity, called Exiro Nickel Company, aims to eventually double production at the mine complex, which currently employs about 700 staff and 300 contractors. The deal is expected to close by the end of 2026, with Vale retaining an 18.9% stake.
United Steelworkers Local 6166 president Warren Luky said the deal gives workers hope. “A lot of people were starting to wonder what they should do — whether to stay or whether they start looking for another job,” he said. “With this announcement, there’s a promise to go and do the development work that will see the deeper ore body getting mined, which means work for everybody.”
Thompson Mayor Colleen Smook, who has lived in the community for 54 years, called the investment one of the highs for the city. “It’s a great opportunity,” she said. “We’ve been partners — that’s why Thompson was built, was for the nickel industry.”
The Thompson Mine Complex has been producing nickel since 1956 and is the fifth-largest nickel camp in the world. In 2025, it produced 12,000 metric tonnes of finished nickel, a 21.2 percent increase from the year before. With a current 20-year life-of-mine plan and plans to expand, the operation is poised to remain a key economic driver for northern Manitoba.
