Donkin coal mine to remain shut while province reviews operator's safety plans

Nova Scotia's Department of Labour says it is not ready to allow the underground coal mine in Donkin to reopen until all safety concerns are addressed.

In July, the province issued a stop-work order after a large section of the roof fell in twice in one week in the coal mine's main access tunnel.

That followed a smaller incident in the same tunnel a week earlier.

No one was injured in either case.

On Thursday, Labour Minister Jill Balser said all Nova Scotians are aware of previous incidents in which miners did not come home from work, and that can never happen again.

"Even though we know roof falls can happen in underground mining, that doesn't mean we should treat these incidents as normal," she told reporters while delivering the province's first statements since the latest roof fall on July 15.

"Everything must be done to prevent it before work can resume."

Balser said the mine is legally allowed to operate and Jeff Dolan, the department's acting executive director of safety, said there is no discussion about shutting it down permanently.

But he said the stop-work order will remain in place until the mine is as safe as possible.

"For now, our focus is ensuring that the mine is able to reopen safely and we're doing the necessary work, we're doing our due diligence to make sure that we are exploring all avenues, all available information with respect to what are the expectations, what are the standards for coal mining."

The latest roof fall included rock covering an area 15 metres long by five metres wide and one metre deep.

Dolan said the mine operator, Kameron Coal, has repaired the roof, created a plan to stop further roof falls and had its safety plans reviewed by a consultant.

Now, the province is bringing in a third party of its own.

"To ensure we're doing our due diligence, we're also in the process of bringing in a consultant to do a review of the company's reports on the roof falls and repairs made," Dolan said.

"We will await their review by our consultant and then determine next steps."

No estimate on reopening

Dolan said he cannot say when production will be allowed to continue.

"We don't have an estimate at this time. We want to make sure that we take the time necessary to consider all the available information related to the mine directly and also to the safety of the industry overall."

Kameron Coal has not replied to requests for comment from CBC News.

The latest stop-work order was issued nearly three weeks ago, following a brief shutdown due to a roof fall that also took place in the mine's main access tunnel, which was dug by a government agency in the 1980s.

Dolan said the access tunnels are aging, but the infrastructure is not.

Operator has cited 'challenging' geologic conditions

"There may be exposed rock faces that are 40 years old, but the ground control plan and the existing rehabilitation support plans for tunnel two and tunnel three take that into consideration."

The mine sat idle until six years ago, when the American firm Kameron Coal started it up.

The company shut it down in 2020 after a series of roof falls, including two in one month, citing "challenging" geologic conditions, but restarted it last September after the price of coal shot up.

The province says the mine has experienced 32 roof falls exceeding three tonnes since coal extraction began in 2017.

The mine was also hit by an underground fire at the end of April, which was caused by a conveyor system that brings coal to the surface.

Dolan said it has been inspected 26 times since reopening in September and over the last six years the operator has been issued 32 warnings, 42 compliance orders (three of which were stop-work orders) and 17 administrative penalties.

MORE TOP STORIES