Williams Lake, B.C. – If all goes well, the United Steelworkers Union estimates the restricted restart of the Mt. Polley Mine is just two to three weeks away.

“We’re getting close,” says local 1-425 president Paul French. “They’ve (Imperial Metals) recalled about 48 people so we’re over 100 unionized workers out there. The mill was winterized so they’re just trying to get the mill back up and running and get into half production.”

He says it’s a far cry from last July when close to 400 people were working on the site.

“We’re going to keep putting pressure on the mine to get the stuff they need to do,” says French. “The applications, the conditions of the application with what they have to do with the water and of course we want to push them a little harder on making sure the dam gets fixed so they can get into full production.”

Earlier this month Williams Lake Mayor Walt Cobb says the announced restart has kept many area businesses from shutting down.

“I’m told some of the smaller businesses that depended on the mine did not put in their fall orders because if this didn’t go forward they were probably going to close their doors.”