HD Mining coal mine project put on hold

The B.C. coal mine project at the centre of the temporary foreign worker program dispute is being put on hold.  The Globe and Mail reports that the temporary foreign workers hired for HD Mining’s Murray River project have left Tumbler Ridge and returned to China.  The mine site is being put into “care and maintenance” until it receives federal environmental approvals, provincial mine permits, and market conditions improve.

In 2013, on behalf of the Construction and Specialized Workers’ Union, Local 1611 and the International Union of Operating Engineers, Local 115, Koskie Glavin Gordon launched a court challenge to the Labour Market Opinions with respect to the offers of employment made by HD Mining to 201 workers from China.  The case was launched after unions discovered that Chinese workers had been brought to work on a mining project near Tumbler Ridge, when qualified Canadian workers were available to work on the project.  Although the Federal Court dismissed the judicial review application, the case achieved the larger goal of restricting the rampant use of temporary foreign workers while Canadians remain available for work.

The Globe and Mail article:

HD Mining Project put on hold