The Province is holding the 55th annual Mine Safety Awards banquet to honour mining operations for their work to ensure mining remains one of British Columbia’s safest heavy industries.

The Province is helping build the rural economy and grow jobs throughout British Columbia by ensuring that sectors like forestry, mining, LNG, and oil and gas won’t have to pay PST on electricity purchases.

Three months after reopening the Brule Mine, Conuma Coal Resources Ltd. (Conuma Coal) has started hiring ahead of its planned Jan. 2, 2017, restart of the Wolverine Mine near Tumbler Ridge.

British Columbia’s mineral and coal production is a major pillar of the province’s economy and the raw materials mined right here in B.C. — like coal, copper, gold, lead and zinc — are needed to produce many of the consumer products British Columbians rely on in their daily lives.

The Province is providing $342,000 from the Innovative Clean Energy (ICE) Fund for four clean-energy science and technology research projects at British Columbia public post-secondary institutions, supporting energy efficiency and conservation.

The provincial government is providing more than $550,000 to support energy efficiency and renewable energy projects, including solar power, biomass heating and energy retrofits to local facilities in eight communities.

Premier Christy Clark welcomed the news that the Woodfibre LNG project has received board authorization to proceed with the $1.6-billion project that will create 650 jobs during construction and 100 operational jobs over the 25-year lifespan of the project.