Imperial Metals has announced it will suspend operations at the Mount Polley mine, a mine maybe best known for the 2014 tailings pond breach and subsequent environmental damage.

The company blames the low price of copper for the suspension, which it says will last until the economics of the mine improve.

Cariboo-Chilcotin MLA Donna Barnett says the suspension at the mine, located about 230 kilometres northwest of Kamloops, won’t happen until May, buying impacted employees some time.

“It is a sad day for all the employees, sad day for the Cariboo who relies on resource industries to feed our families. And hopefully it is just a temporary shutdown, I guess time will tell. They’ve been through some pretty traumatic times ever since the Mount Polley spill.”

Barnett says about 200 people will be out of work, not to mention the spill over economic impact.

Is there anything the province can do?

“Well there’s nothing you can do with the low price of copper, that’s just business. There is, however, a lot of permits I know they’ve been working on for a couple years that still have not been given,” Barnett says.

“Water permits, for example. And that is a very important permit. The province could certainly speed up the process.”

Imperials Metals says the suspension will not impact its environmental monitoring and remediation work in the aftermath of the tailing pond breach.