Teck Highland Valley Copper is moving into Merritt with the grand opening of its Voght Street office.

The Community Affairs and Environment departments will have staff members in the office at 2001A Voght Street across from the post office on a rotating basis. The human resources and purchasing departments may also have staff in the building on occasion.

The move into Merritt is intended to make the company more accessible to its local employees, First Nations Liaison Marlena Anderson wrote in an email.

“[Highland Valley Copper] would like to be more accessible to the people living in surrounding local communities,” Anderson wrote. “This initiative supports our goal of proactive community engagement to promote awareness and understanding of our activities.”

The mine, which is Canada’s largest open-pit mine, is located about seven kilometres east of Logan Lake. It is expected to have a mine life until 2027.

Approximately half of the mine’s staff live in Kamloops, with the remainder split between Logan Lake, Ashcroft and Merritt.

The office was established about a month ago, but the grand opening will take place on Aug. 7 from noon to 2 p.m. at Spirit Square. Highland Valley Copper staff will serve up hotdogs and hamburgers. Proceeds from the event are slated to go to an unspecified local non-profit organization.

The company is also hosting its annual open house at the mine site on Monday from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

The mine’s concentrates are transported to Ashcroft for processing, then Vancouver for exporting overseas.