The mining company accused of ignoring qualified Canadian workers in order to hire cheap Chinese labour for its Murray River Project in northeastern B.C. has released an update on its legal battle with two B.C. unions to retain 201 foreign worker approvals it received in April 2012.
HD Mining states in a release that union bosses Brian Cochrane and Mike Olsen refused to answer questions under oath on Friday about aspects of their filed affidavits -- affidavits the company says the unions are now largely withdrawing.
The release states the unions filed new affidavits on March 13th to replace the original documents, which HD Mining says contained irrelevant information, hearsay evidence and relied on union lawyers providing evidence in their own case.
According to the release, the transcript of Cochrane and Olsen's cross examination will be publicly available on April 3rd, when it's filed with the court.
The judicial review hearing takes place from April 9th to 11th.