https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/
Province says its 3 dedicated inspectors are capable, but outside expertise was needed this summer
Nova Scotia’s Labour Department is coming under fire for not inspecting the underground coal mine in Donkin after it shut down following two roof falls in the main access tunnel in July. Instead, the province’s inspectors did site visits and relied on two third-party reviews before saying the Cape Breton mine can reopen.
Critics say the use of outside expertise has dragged out the shutdown unnecessarily. “We just have one problem and that is a regulator that is not equipped to regulate this mine,” said Dawson Brisco, CEO of Morien Resources, a company with a royalty stake in the Donkin mine.
The mine opened in 2017 and the province has had enough time since then to get the experts on staff it needs to enforce mine regulations, Brisco said.
James Edwards, Cape Breton Regional Municipality’s deputy mayor and a member of the community liaison committee that includes mine operator Kameron Coal, said the company did extensive work on the roof after the second fall in July.
For the rest of this article: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/critics-slam-ns-labour-over-lack-of-donkin-coal-mine-inspections-1.7046727