DONKIN — The president of the Nova Scotia Federation of Labour is calling on the province to have zero tolerance when it comes to rockfalls at Donkin Mine.
“When things happen they need to shut the mine down until there’s a plan in place,” said Danny Cavanagh.
Cavanagh believes the labour department is trying to do a good job monitoring the coal mine and are most likely underground inspecting it enough. However, he said, how often do you keep going back and readjusting the roof bolt system — or whatever is done — to reopen the mine and then see the same thing happen over and over.
“If there’s been a dozen roof collapses, how many before someone sits down and says we have to take a serious look at this and whatever we are doing we need to do it better?"
Over the past year Cavanagh said the federation has written the minister of labour regarding their concerns and are in the process of doing so again.
Since the coal mine opened in 2017, there have now been 12 rockfalls however some occurred in travel ways that are no longer being used and some were in abandoned portions of the mine. The last two incidents were in production areas.
Cavanagh said just because some incidents were not in production areas doesn’t mean it’s not going to happen.
“Twelve rockfalls is unacceptable,” Cavanagh said. “We’re going to continue to call for zero tolerance down there so if anything happens they just immediately shut the mine down and come up with a plan.”
It doesn’t matter whether they are doing maintenance work or are mining coal, there’s the potential for it to happen, he added.
“People are working, they need to be protected.”
On Feb. 13 Donkin Mine suffered a rockfall in a production area, with 35-40 miners underground. The Department of Labour and Advanced Education issued a stop-work order on all mining production and said production will not resume until a ground control plan has been accepted by the department and they’re confident it will prevent rockfalls.
The area in question was at an intersection in close proximity to the location of another rockfall only 11 days prior. In that incident the labour department put a stop-work order in the area of the rockfall. The department responded immediately and following an inspection issued followup orders to the mine which in part included a request for an assessment to determine what happened and implement corrective measures to prevent a reoccurrence.
Cavanagh said closing down the mine when these incidents occur is what will make people listen.
“When they get hit in the pocketbook they are going to pay more attention to stuff,” he said. “I don’t think anyone in this province wants to see another Westray.”
Cavanagh said there might be a difference between an explosion due to coal dust (as happened at Westray in Pictou County) and roof falls but none the less, the issue is about the safety of the miners.
As well he said American mining experts have been brought to Cape Breton to assess and assist with the mine issues, which he believes is being paid for by taxpayers.
“I don’t understand why we as a province are paying for an American safety company to advise the government on things when the people who operate the mine should be doing that,” he said. “That’s their job making that mine safe, not us as taxpayers.”
Meanwhile the stop-work order at Donkin Mine remains in effect while Kameron Collieries continues to conduct an assessment into the most recent rockfall.
Shannon Kerr, a spokesperson for the labour department, said as they have in the past, the department has engaged experts from the Mine Safety and Health Administration to come to Nova Scotia because they are globally considered the experts on ground control in coal mines and are the only other regulator with ground control expertise in North America.
“As a fellow regulator, we often collaborate with MSHA to ensure our work reflects the current industry best practices,” she said in an email response.
In a story in the Cape Breton Post Feb. 15, officials at Donkin Mine said the rockfalls or any industrial accident is of concern to both the company and to regulators and they are working together to make sure the operation is safe. The spokesperson added the mine is operating under stringent rules in Nova Scotia and the company accepts and adheres to those rules.
On Tuesday, the spokesperson confirmed mine production is on hold as the stop-work order is in place.
“Any operations that are done underground at Donkin Mine are only those authorized by the department of labour and they are for essential maintenance only,” the mine spokesperson said.
