A Chinese mining company that wants to build a new underground metallurgical coal mine in Tumbler Ridge has received the green light from the B.C. Environmental Assessment Office.
But the $688 million Murray River Coal project will still need the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency’s approval, as the project is being reviewed under a joint provincial-federal process.
The underground coal mine would be built 12 kilometres south of Tumbler Ridge, which has been hit hard in the last couple of years by the closure of three other metallurgical coal mines. Met coal prices have fallen from a high of US$300 per tonne in 2011 to about US$90 per tonne, thanks to a global glut and slowdown in China. Metallurgical coal is used to make steel.
The mine is expected to generate 600 direct jobs and 700 indirect jobs through the construction and operation of the mine, and has an expected mine life of 25 years.
But few of the unemployed miners in Tumbler Ridge are expected to qualify for work at the mine in its startup phase because the mines they worked at were open pit, whereas the Murray River Coal project is underground. HD Mining plans to bring in workers from China who have experience at longwall mining.
