Donkin coal mine lays off workers after provincial stop-work order

A company with ties to the underground coal mine in Donkin, N.S., says mine operator Kameron Coal has laid off some staff because of a stop-work order issued by the province in July.

Morien Resources, which gets a royalty on coal sold from the mine and is partly owned by the company that owns Kameron Coal, made the announcement in a news release last week.

No one from Kameron Coal returned a request for comment.

Jeff Dolan, acting executive director of safety for Nova Scotia's Department of Labour, said the province can't say when the stop-work order will be lifted.

"We're not in a position to put a timeline on it at this point," he said in an interview Tuesday. "But we can say that we want to take the time that's necessary to make sure that we're considering all possible safety considerations so we can get that mine reopened and when it does reopen, it's as safe as possible."

The work stoppage was ordered after what the province called a significant roof fall in the mine's main access tunnel last month.

Dolan said a section of roof measuring 15 metres long by five metres wide and one metre deep fell in the tunnel, which was built in the 1980s, but no one was injured.

The miners who were underground at the time were able to follow an evacuation plan using a separate exhaust tunnel some distance from the roof fall, he said.

The mine only began operating in 2017 and was shut down for more than two years starting in March 2020 after a series of roof falls and what Kameron Coal at the time said were "challenging" geologic conditions.

According to the province, the mine has experienced 32 roof falls in excess of three tonnes over the last six years, including during the time it was shut down by the operator.

Dolan said Kameron Coal has now fixed the roof in the main access tunnel and provided a safety plan to reopen, but the province wants an independent expert to review the work and the plan.

The review is in progress, he said, but the province is still looking for a Canadian expert on underground mine safety.

"We're seeking out expertise within Canada within the post-secondary system, so we're speaking to engineering departments across Canada at universities to determine who the best expert is to conduct this review for us," Dolan said.

In late July and early August, Kameron Coal had been advertising, looking for miners to work underground in Donkin.

But a week later, the company laid off an unknown number of its workers.

Dolan said provincial officials, the mine operator and some of its workers sit on a joint committee that has reviewed Kameron Coal's work to date.

He said no employees are contacting the province with safety concerns.

"We did confirm that the work that was done, which resulted in the report, was shared with the joint occupational health and safety committee and there were no concerns communicated to the department."