A vacant big-box store in Humboldt, Saskatchewan is about to become one of the most consequential pieces of workforce infrastructure in the province, as Carlton Trail College, mining giant BHP, and the Government of Saskatchewan prepare to transform the shuttered Peavey Mart on 8th Avenue into a technical training centre built around the needs of the nearby Jansen Potash Mine.
Renovations on the 22,725-square-foot building are set to begin this summer, with the BHP Technical Training Centre slated to open in fall 2027, timed closely to when Jansen Stage 1 is expected to hit full operational capacity. BHP's Jansen project, located roughly 60 kilometres south of Humboldt near LeRoy, represents the largest private investment in Saskatchewan history, with total committed spending approaching $21 billion across two approved stages.
The training centre is designed to serve the surge in skilled-trades demand the mine has already started generating. BHP projects around 600 permanent jobs at Jansen, plus thousands more in construction and regional services, including welding, heavy-duty mechanics, electrical, instrumentation, power engineering, and health care for a population that has been growing since the project's 2021 sanction. Until now, workers with those credentials have largely had to be recruited from out of province or trained in Saskatoon and Regina.
Carlton Trail College, a regional college headquartered in Humboldt with campuses in Watrous, Wynyard and Wadena, has historically served a mostly agricultural catchment. The new facility materially expands its footprint and mandate. The college has been coordinating with BHP since signing a memorandum of understanding in 2021 and has previously administered BHP-funded Indigenous training scholarships tied to the Jansen build.
The building itself carries its own small story about rural economic change. Peavey Mart, a farm and hardware chain, collapsed into receivership in early 2025, closing roughly 90 Canadian locations and leaving communities across the prairies with large vacant retail spaces. In Humboldt, that vacancy is being filled not by another retailer but by a trades school backed by one of the world's largest mining companies, a sign of how thoroughly Jansen has rewritten the town's economic logic.
The total project cost and the funding split among Carlton Trail College, BHP, and the province have not been disclosed. Carlton Trail College has posted a construction management contract to SaskTenders and is looking to bring a contractor on immediately to hit the summer start date.
