Xstrata Coal Donkin Management have announced it will move ahead with an underground mining operation in Donkin, Nova Scotia but on a smaller scale than expected. It will be the first coal mine to open on Cape Breton for eight years.
It had been expected that the project would mine for thermal coal for use in power generation plants, but Donkin will now be used to mine for coking coal. The change came after Nova Scotia Power announced that it would not use coal from the Donkin project as the unwashed coal contained too much mercury and sulphur to be usable under existing environmental regulations.
Xstrata Coal chief development officer Jeff Gerard told a public meeting that about 200 onsite jobs will be created for Cape Breton and another 1,000 spinoff jobs. Most of the onsite jobs would be underground.
About 2.75 million tonnes of washed, export-grade coking coal will be produced each year for export to markets in Europe, South America, India and China.
“The resource size of this mine is capable of supporting that size of operation for well over 25 years,” he said. “So it’s a long-term proposition.”
Xstrata expects to commence mining next year.
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