Prince George, B.C.- The Ministry of Mines is looking into the  incident Monday night in Prince George, which   rattled windows  of residences along the north side of the Nechako River .

Residents reported  hearing  what they  thought was an explosion, numerous calls were made to  Prince George RCMP  and   emergency personnel  rushed to Otway Road to find the source .  They scoured the area for  an hour and a half until  they discovered it was a controlled blast at a gravel  extraction quarry.

The Ministry of Mines  informs 250News  Regional Mines inspectors have verbally issued a shutdown of the operation   in that quarry  and  an investigation is underway.  The inspectors have been  in communication with  the  mining permit holder to get more details about the incident.

According to City Hall,  the mining permit allows  for  operations in that quarry to take place  between 7:30 a.m. and 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday.  The blast occurred at  approximately 8:30 p.m. Monday night.  According to  a CBC report,  those responsible for the blast  said  they had planned to do it earlier in the day  and had  experienced  some delays but decided to go ahead with the blast  because they couldn’t leave the blast area  unattended.

The Ministry of Mines says  public complaints will be recorded for follow up, if needed,  during their investigation.