Millions of tonnes of lithium, which is a key part of electric car batteries, has been found around Snow Lake, 200km east of Flin Flon.

A geologist with the mining company, Snow Lake Resources is hoping to get 3 or 4 mines set up.

That could mean 500 people directly employed.

Snow Lake Resources has dibs on a 6.3-million-tonne resource estimate, while Far Resources is digging into an initial resource of 1.1 million tonnes.

This could save hundreds of jobs because last year Hudbay announced its intentions to pull up stakes in Flin Flon by 2021 due to a lack of ore in the ground.

Another setback saw Vale lay off 169 employees at its Thompson mine last year.