A joint environmental review is now underway for a controversial underground coal mine proposed for Tumbler Ridge that would employ close to 500 temporary foreign workers in its first year of operation.
HD Mining International Ltd.’s Murray River Coal Project is an underground metallurgical coal mine that has faced controversy over its use of temporary foreign workers (TWF) from China.
Unlike two other proposed coal mine projects in B.C. that qualified for substitution under a new streamlined environmental assessment process, the Murray River coal mine project will be assessed under a joint federal-provincial environmental review.
But it may be its use of the TFWs and not the environmental concerns that generate the most heat during the review process.
HD Mining argues that Canadian miners lack the skills specific to underground mining, because most mines in Canada are open-pit mines, although there are underground coal mines in B.C. (Quinsam, on Vancouver Island) and in Alberta (Grand Cache).
But in a town that has seen three operating coalmines idled, any new development is welcome. HD Mining has invested $15 million in Tumbler Ridge buying land and building a new subdivision of 16 duplexes to house its workers, and has signed a memorandum of understanding with Northern Lights College to train new miners.
“We welcome the Chinese investment in the community,” said Tumbler Ridge chief administrative officer Barry Elliott. “I know the controversy about the temporary foreign workers but then the key word there is ‘temporary.’
“The commitment that council has heard repeatedly from HD Mining is that they do want to work to employing Canadian workers.”
The mine is expected to be in operation by about 2018. It would employ a total of 764 miners, 494 of which would be foreign miners, in its first year of operation.
Over 10 years, the use of foreign workers would be reduced as Canadian miners were training in long-wall mining. By Year 5, the number of foreign workers would be down to 287.
Former MLA Blair Lekstrom, now a spokesman for HD Mining, said the original capital cost of the mine was estimated at $300 million, but will come in "substantially" higher than that.
"We've invested $100 million to date and it's just getting to the bulk sample," Lekstrom said.
The mine would produce 6 million tonnes of met coal per year.
The public comment period for the project runs from December 18 to January 29 and will be the subject of an open house in Tumbler Ridge on January 14.
