District 4
Mining sector in the news in Northern B.C.
(December 2007)

By Wayne Mills, Member Representative
& Herb Conat, Member Representative
Winter’s here and the snow will soon be as high as an elephant’s eye, so to one and all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

It wasn’t as busy as everyone thought it would be this year, but work was steady.

The container reload in Prince George (ICL and Sharp Construction) is complete. The first phase of the Prince Rupert container port (Western Industrial Contractors, Fraser River Pile & Dredge and B.A. Blacktop) is up and running. The second phase should be out to tender in early 2008.

Once again, paving contracts provided the most work for Operating Engineers in the North, with Dawson Construction working in the Greenville-Kincolith, Ootsa Lake, Nazko (before the volcano started grumbling) and Williams Lake areas. Columbia Bitulithic was busy with the Prince George city contract and other projects, and the YCS Group is working on the highway jobs between Terrace and Prince Rupert as well as the second phase of the Highway 16 upgrade through town. Western Industrial Construction completed the UNBC sports centre. Wayne Watson Construction did the site prep and construction on Northern Electric’s new building and the Pine Centre Mall and Westgate stores.

Western Industrial Contractors has the 18-month Gateway Retirement Project ($35 million) and the B.C. Highway Ministry’s preliminary work on the Simon Fraser Bridge. The Prince George Airport is expanding its 7,400-foot runway to 11,400 feet ($33 million) to encourage Asian air cargo refuelling. This is a joint venture between ICL and Sharp Construction who were awarded the first phase worth $7.5 million.

There’s a lot of work scheduled in the North over the next few years. How much will be done union, non-union or rat bag is unknown.

Right now, there are more than 20 mines in various stages of development (read: still trying to get permits). This includes a couple of aggregate projects in the Stewart area.

The price of metals is the only reason so many mines are considering going into production. As long as the price of metals stays high, we should see them launch.

The Galore Creek property was the biggest and also the furthest along, with Formula Pile & Bridge and Rain Coast Cranes & Equipment on site. However, the mine developers recently shut down operations citing high construction and material costs and a high Canadian dollar as the reasons.

Kemess North did not get approval for its proposal from the joint Canada/B.C. Environmental Review Panel. As a result, negotiations are even tougher this year (though, of course, they were no picnic in the past).

The mountain pine beetle has devoured most of the pine trees in the North and, in some places, it is turning on the spruce. Because of the devastation, there are a number of pellet plants proposed for construction in Quesnel, Williams Lake, Fraser Lake, Vanderhoof and Houston.

As our economy and population grow, so too does the need for electric power sources. How will the province deal with this: Site C, wind power turbines or run of the river projects that use river currents without the need of a dam?

Whatever method is chosen we must not allow our natural resources to be sold to independent power producers. Wind farms are proposed for the Queen Charlottes (Nai Kun) as well as Banks Island (234 wind turbines). There is even a proposal to place 14 on Mount Hays.

There are a number of run of the river projects in the works in Mackenzie, Kitsault, Europa Creek, McClymont Creek, More Creek, Long Lake and Forrest Kerr.

With all the work that is scheduled in the next couple of years, our organizers will be busy. They need your help. That includes letting the Local Union know who is working and talking to non-union crew members about the benefits of belonging to the Operating Engineers. A few staff members can’t do it by themselves. We need your help to grow the membership and improve contracts, pensions and benefits. Sitting on the sidelines waiting for later only hurts you and your family.

In closing, the staff in District 4 would like to welcome all the new members and say thank you to all the shop stewards, safety reps and their spouses for the endless hours of hard work they do on behalf of the Local Union and the brothers and sisters at work.

We would also like to wish members and their families a safe, prosperous and healthy 2008. May the best that happened to you and yours in 2007 be the worst you encounter in 2008.