Water is scarce across the Southern Interior and it’s not just affecting homeowners and farmers. A massive copper mine near Kamloops was forced to push pause on its operation.

Highland Valley near Logan Lake is Canada’s largest open-pit copper mine and it uses thousands of litres of water per minute when separating ore. The region’s ongoing drought forced that work to stop in recent weeks.

The mine is owned by Canadian natural resource and mining company Teck and its spokesperson Dale Steeves said mill operations have since restarted, but production was temporarily paused “to appropriately manage site water supply”.

It’s not clear how long that pause lasted, how much it cost the company or whether production has slowed down as the mine reduces its water use.

However, it didn’t affect workers.

“There’s so much work to do anyway and the employer didn’t even talk about that, so there’s not even a thought of potential layoffs. We just changed gears,” said Kyle Wolff, president of the United Steelworkers local 7619.

The union represents 1,200 workers at the mine, which is undergoing a massive expansion, extending its lifespan to 2040.

Wolff said there’s a silver lining as the curtailment gave workers more time to deal with maintenance and safety concerns at the mine than they typically have during routine shutdowns.

The vast majority of the water used for the mill is reused, but the drought still put pressure on its operations.

Steeves said the mine is working with the province to voluntarily reduce its water use.

“(Highland Valley Copper) recognizes that water is vital to the communities where we operate, and responsible water management is essential,” he said.

Teck Resources Ltd. is a public company and trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange at just under $100 per share. It’s in the process of merging with British mining corporation Anglo American, which is expected to get final regulatory approval by next March.