Listen Live

- Advertisement -
HomeNewsHuckleberry Mines to stop all operations, Aug 31st

Huckleberry Mines to stop all operations, Aug 31st

Imperial Metals has informed employees that they will be stopping all operations at the Huckleberry Mine as of August 31st.

The mine had previously suspended pit operations in January laying off 100 workers, running the mill on stockpiled ore. That stockpile is set to run out at the end of the summer taking another 160 jobs with it.

NDP MP Nathan Cullen says he expected this news was coming for some time now.

“This affects a lot of people, these are good paying jobs, they are hard to come bay. I know a number of the folks will land on their feet finding other work but there is nothing good about this, and we are really getting hammered right now in the resource sectors right across the country and particularly in Northern BC.”

He says they are making progress trying to get the federal government to change rules around Employment Insurance; “it’s going slow, which is the frustrating thing”

Cullen says his office was told told by Imperial Metals that it intends to open the mine when copper prices rebound.

Mines Minister Bill Bennett was in Williams Lake Friday, announcing measures to prop up the struggling sector.

The Government will now allow mines to defer up to 75% of their BC Hydro bills for up to two years.

“It’s not too late for Huckleberry; they will have the opportunity to defer their power costs up to 24 months. So if that power cost deferral was enough to make their mining operations feasible then they could conceivably choose to stay open. It’s really up to them.”

Under the program, the mines are expected to repay the amounts deferred, plus interest, as commodity prices recover. The program will be in place for 5 years.

Continue Reading

More