Really, we should have seen it coming. Former Glace Bay MLA Geoff MacLellan has never disguised his feelings for the Donkin Mine. When the Cline Group, which had bought a 75% stake in the mine from Glencore Xstrata the previous December, announced in 2015 that it had begun hiring, then-MinisterRead More

Coal Face “There’s no stone left unturned when it comes to safety with this company”—CBRM District 8 Councilor James Edwards on Kameron Collieries’ decision to reopen the Donkin Mine, CTV Atlantic News, 14 September 2022 The unfortunate reference to stones—the man is, after all, talking about a coal mine proneRead More

I made my thoughts on the potential re-opening of the Donkin Mine pretty clear in last week’s Fast & Curious but I feel the need to return to the topic, thanks to a Cape Breton Post story under the headline: Coal’s last chance: It may be now or never forRead More

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

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

Adding to the general feeling that the world as we know it is coming to an end — and that that’s not necessarily a bad thing — the owners of the Donkin Mine announced on Tuesday they were ending production permanently and putting the mine on “care and maintenance” dueRead More

If I get this right, Donkin Mine management, and our provincial Department of Labour, are calling in world-renowned ground control experts to assess the Donkin geology and shine a light on how Kameron Collieries can best proceed after its 12th roof fall. Scott Nauss, senior director of inspection and complianceRead More

Spin Class I like following the CBC’s Jean Laroche on Twitter precisely for moments like these, where he captures something about the way our political system works that you don’t get to see unless you happen to hang out in the halls of the Nova Scotia House of Assembly: ThisRead More

Ben Eoin Update A spectator (as I’ve come to think of my readers) alerted me to the sale price of The Birches at Ben Eoin Country Inn — it sold for $675,000 early in 2018. I’ve updated this week’s Ben Eoin story to add this piece of information and toRead More

Is there no editor at the Cape Breton Post? Has the Saltwire Network, which owns the paper, instituted some sort of buggy, beta, artificial intelligence app to vet its stories? How else to explain a front-page Father’s Day feature that began like this: Just in time for Father’s Day, five setsRead More