leaving due to the shrinking population and lack of economic opportunity left in the void. It has been projected that the Cape Breton Regional Municipality will depopulate from 100,000 residents in 2006 to approximately 75,000 by 2020. Currently there are no coal mining operations on Cape Breton Island, aside from numerous bootleg mines . Record world energy prices during 2004-2005 resulted in plans to reopen an abandoned colliery at Donkin. Xstrata Coal, a subsidiary of Switzerland's Xstrata Plc Group, was awarded the right to develop the Donkin colliery by the provincial government, and re-opened the mine in 2017, however due to several Cave-ins the mine closed in 2020. The Donkin project had been estimated by promoters that it would create hundreds of jobs for Industrial Cape Breton. It is also envisioned that the Donkin project would help improve the fortunes of the Cape Breton and Central Nova Scotia Railway, whose railway line from Port Hawkesbury to Sydney has been unprofitable since the closure of the coal mines and steel plant. References Further reading Geography of the Cape Breton Regional Municipality History of the Cape Breton Regional Municipality Miners' labour disputes in Canada Geographic regions of Nova Scotia