Coal Dreams Did you know that fluctuations in the market price of coal have a direct impact on the geological conditions in coal mines? When the price of coal rises, these conditions magically improve. It’s an economic-geologic phenomenon begging for further study, in place of which I am simply offeringRead More

On Monday, we paused to remember the 26 men who died 30 years ago, when the Westray coal mine exploded in Westville, Nova Scotia. Westray is one of the low points in Canada’s history of patronage-driven job creation schemes and the failure of government to regulate corporate profit-seeking. Remembering thoseRead More

Barry Sheehy — “author, historian, businessman and veteran” — barged into my summer on Tuesday, via one of his trademark screeds for the Cape Breton Post. Although his bio acknowledges he is “involved with Sydney Harbour Investment Partners, which is marketing the port [of Sydney] for development,” he writes theRead More

There’s a passage in Lachlan MacKinnon’s book, Closing Sysco: Industrial Decline in Atlantic Canada’s Steel City, in which a former steelworker, Adrian Murphy, describes what it’s like to visit Open Hearth Park, the greenspace that’s replaced the plant in the heart of Sydney: I was there a couple of times withRead More

I‘ve been learning about Appalachia (beginning with how to pronounce it) through a variety of means lately and what keeps jumping out at me are the similarities between that region and our own (by which I mean, variously, Cape Breton, the Maritimes and the Atlantic Provinces). These similarities include theRead More

Booze News The Nova Scotia Liquor Corporation (NSLC) reported a 4.2% increase in earnings for the year ended 31 March 2020 — earnings were up $9.9 million at $247.3 million. I’ve been curious about the effect of the pandemic on liquor sales and was fascinated (although I have to admit,Read...

Donkin During the Proclamations & Resolutions portion of Tuesday’s virtual CBRM council meeting, District 8 Councilor Amanda McDougall presented a resolution outlining South Head residents’ environmental concerns about the Donkin coal mine, which is described as having ceased operations “permanently.” McDougall’s resolution asked council to make these concerns known toRead More

We created Morien Resources to be a vehicle of prosperity for Nova Scotians. Its two primary assets, the Donkin Mine and the Black Point Aggregates Project, are located in communities with high unemployment. Many members of these communities have to choose between low paying seasonal jobs or travelling to otherRead More

It is unfortunate that Stephen Drake’s letter was published before our company, Morien Resources, distributed the truth of the situation in a press release this morning [April 2]. I would like to add some proper context to Drake’s letter and correct some inaccuracies. I am submitting this letter because thoseRead More

I began my mining career in 1977 and have been an eye witness to the Donkin saga since the day Pierre Elliot Trudeau announced his National Energy Program (NEP) in the 1980s. The NEP earmarked $2 billion dollars for expansion of the Cape Breton coal industry and Donkin Mine wasRead More