The new owners of Cape Breton’s Donkin mine met with members of the community Tuesday night to discuss a plan to resume operation of mining coal and residents are cautiously optimistic that the mine may have a renewed future.
“There was a good explanation as to what their plans are and I think it's something that's well needed. The economy will certainly receive a boost,” says resident Wilfred Edmond.
“They seem like they’re the ones for the job,” says resident Ron Peach. “The plan sounds good. They have a lot of expertise in the field with their mines in the United States. I think they’re finally going to get it done.”
Earlier this year, the Cline Group completed its purchase of Glencore's 75 per cent interest in the Donkin Coal Project.
Matt Fifield was on hand Wednesday, providing members of the community with Christmas dinner, a tradition that was started by Glencore.
“It has very favourable logistics,” says Fifield. “Because you can load ships off the coast, giving you very low transportation costs, which would enable the mine to survive in a variety of market conditions.”
This is not the first time residents in the area have been optimistic about the project.
In 2005 Xstrata Coal purchased the mine with plans to resume operations, but that never happened.
Councillor Kevin Saccary says Nova Scotia Power can play a big role in getting the project off the ground.
“Instead of importing two-and-a-half million tons of coal a year to service two power plants, we have a mine in the community that's able to provide that,” says Saccary.
Fifield says talks are underway with NSP and says the pace of marketing will dictate the pace of development, so a definitive date has yet to be set for the mine to open.
With files from CTV Atlantic's Kyle Moore
