Peru’s small miners block highways, camp outside Congress demanding registry extension
Analyst says that there are strong competing interests between Congress and small-scale miners that could escalate.
Mining companies in British Columbia may be able to defer paying their electricity bills, the Mines Minister Bill Bennett tells NEWS 1130.
Given low commodity prices and the general struggles of the resource industry, Bennett said mining companies could escape expected Hydro bill rate hikes in 2016 if all “the pieces can be put together.”
“There might be a deferral opportunity for power costs for the mining industry starting in 2016 if we can put all the pieces together and it makes sense,” Mines Minister Bill Bennett told NEWS 1130.
BC Hydro expects to raise rates by 28% over the next five years.
When elected Premier Christy Clark made mine expansion in the province a major initiative, but recent layoffs have hurt the industry with Teck announcing 1,000 job cuts in November.
2 Comments
contradictive pesimist
The mines will not go broke over a power bill. Remember it is tax payers money that the government uses and once the hard times are over the mining corporation should have to pay it back. Lets face the facts. The world has become great at bail outs. Anyone can go on a wild spending spree and not have to think about the future. What do these big corporations do with all the money when times are good and they are turning a profit? Christmas bonuses are real good on those years. When in those years they should be saving for times like these. But yes it is a good thing but there should be a repayment plan in place.
babennett
Is the Government going to help those workers that lost their Jobs with their Hydro Bills, I think not. This is all about maximizing profits for the Mining Companies. The Hydro Bill will not put them out of Business just lower their profit margin. Maybe they should do what the rest of us are forced to do when Hydro rates go up”suck it up Buttercup” instead of having the people of BC subsidize them.