HALIFAX — A Cape Breton coal mine that has been under a stop-work order after two roof falls in July can resume production, the Nova Scotia government said Wednesday.
The underground operation at the Donkin mine has been closed since a “significant” July 15 roof fall, which followed a smaller roof fall on July 9. In response to the order, mine owner Kameron Coal Management Ltd. laid off its 130-person workforce.
In a statement Wednesday, the Department of Labour, Skills and Immigration said Kameron Coal can reopen the mine because the company has met the first set of safety requirements imposed by the province's stop-work order.
"We will continue with strong oversight of this complex work site to help ensure the company is doing the right things to keep workers safe,” Scott Nauss, the department's senior executive director of safety, said in a statement.
Requirements for reopening include updating the mine's hazard-assessment classification system and increasing monitoring inside a tunnel.
The province said the mine can operate during the winter months when humidity is low and doesn't impact the mine's infrastructure.
A Department of Labour spokesperson said Wednesday there has been 32 roof falls at the Donkin mine since February 2017, and no injuries have been reported.
It’s not yet clear when work will resume at the Donkin mine; Kameron Coal did not respond to requests for comment on Wednesday.
The department released a consultant report on Nov. 15 that concluded seasonal weather and humidity were key factors in several roof falls at the mine. The report by Andrew Corkum, a geological expert at Halifax's Dalhousie University, said the mine couldn't reopen until the owner updated the safety plan and improved the monitoring of roof stability in the mine’s tunnels. Corkum also said two access tunnels would need to be upgraded before the mine could safely resume operations.
In order to remain open, Kameron Coal must meet the second phase of safety requirements before Feb. 29. That phase requires the company to hire a third-party engineer with specialized experience in mining and tunnelling to review the mine's ground-control plan.
The Donkin mine first opened in 2017 and is described by the province as the world's only operating subsea coal mine. It resumed operations in September 2022 after it was shuttered in March 2020 amid slumping coal prices and roof collapses that led to repeated stop-work orders.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 27, 2023.
Lyndsay Armstrong, The Canadian Press
