You are right Ruslow RM said it would be +/- 1200 (direct jobs) in the initial runup or contruction phase and then +/- 500 (direct jobs) during operations.
Remember he says "direct jobs" so the possibility of the indirect jobs created can be immense. Bringing in money and employment the towns in the general area will certainly benefit.
One more thing also is that KRY is not the only company waiting on permits...GRZ and the Kaolin project (km88) to name a few. So VZ is just not holding up the employment of a few but many businesses that their economy could benefit from.