InteriorNEWS THE
109th Year - Week 6 •
Wednesday, February 10, 2016
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75 Days To Go
Syrian refugees Eviet Danbar and her daughter Jolie Assaf receive gifts from local children after arriving at the Smithers Regional Airport on Monday. Four refugee families are scheduled to arrive in the Bulkley Valley this week. Story, page A20. Alicia Bridges photo
Huckleberry to suspend all Lake Kathlyn closure operations by end of August consultations begin By Chris Gareau Smithers/Interior News
Huckleberry Mines has told its employees that it plans on suspending all operations by Aug. 31. The announcement came after pit operations were suspended in early January and 100 workers were laid off. Twenty more were previously laid off in December as declining world demand saw copper prices plummet. The remaining 160 workers were kept on to mill stockpiled ore. Almost all will lose their jobs, according to Huckleberry spokesperson Steve Robertson. “The plan is we won’t be able to restart pit operations, but we will be able to continue to process stockpiles; and it looks like we will probably exhaust that available source of ore mill feed sometime at the end of summer — so
around Aug. 31 we’ll be suspending operations at the mine all together,” said Robertson. He told The Interior News Thursday he was unable to comment on whether jobs would be lost before Aug. 31. “The plan is people would continue working until the end of August, at which time we would be suspending all operations,” said Robertson. He added that management is trying to find a way to keep operations at the mine 130 kilometres south of Smithers going, but that is very dependent on an increase in the value of copper. The detailed plan for mine suspension and the work that requires will be worked out closer to closure, according to Robertson. B.C. Energy and Mines Minister Bill Bennett was in Williams Lake Friday to announce details on a plan to help mining operations by allowing them to defer BC Hydro payments. See IMPERIAL on A10
Smithers/Interior News
Lake Kathlyn parents and teachers repeated their message at Thursday night’s consultation meeting on whether the elementary school be closed: the school district would be losing a special and unique learning environment. A steady march of speakers came up to the microphone after Bulkley Valley School District 54 secretary treasurer Dave Margerm’s slideshow presentation showed the tight bind the district is in trying to find administration savings. The order to find $380,000 in savings in the next two years came
from the provincial government. The District is also facing the possibility of large funding cuts in funding protection for declining enrolment, ironically because it expects enrolment to plateau. Lake Kathlyn school was chosen as the one to close because it is only being used at 38 per cent of its capacity, and is close to other elementary schools — like Walnut Park Elementary — that have room for Lake Kathlyn’s 81 students. Parents with students at the school and Lake Kathlyn teachers told a number of stories on how this school was the only one that could get through to some students. See ONLY on A3
FAMILIES MEET TO HEAL, MAKE CHANGE Family members of missing and murdered meet in Prince George.
SALTOS COACH RETURNS Experienced gymnastics coach Marcel Dubroy returns to Smithers.
GITXSAN MLA MAKES HISTORY Melanie Mark becomes first ever First Nations MLA in B.C.
NEWS/A9
SPORTS/A17
THREE RIVERS/A29
Friday Only!
see last page in A
By Chris Gareau
Food Should Taste Good Tortillas 680 gram
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