Bulkley Valley – Skeena MLA Nathan Cullen shared his thought on the current state of Huckleberry Mines Friday,
Cullen spent time talking mine representatives and affected community leaders following the early-January announcement to cut pit operations.
He’s having a hard time staying hopeful with the current situation.
“The prices of copper, gold, a whole bunch of things are so suppressed right now,” he says, “if that’s the key point for Imperial Metals to continue that mine in it’s current state, the immediate state does not look good.”
He believes there can be a broader National strategy to help the mining sector.
“I’m talking to our National Resources Critic to see what potential is there, and perhaps if there is anything good that comes out of the bad comments by (Prime Minister) Trudeau (surrounding national oil prices) we can get a little more attention from the Feds toward the natural resource industry in general.”
Parent Company Imperial Metals closed all Piter Operations on January 6th, which put 100 employees out of work.
21 workers in Smithers lost their jobs. Numbers from other communities have not been confirmed.