TORONTO (Reuters) – Miner Teck Resources said on Thursday it was preparing for the possible closure of a major coal export terminal on Canada’s west coast, after a union notice said action A strike against terminal owner Westshore Terminals Investment Corp could begin on Saturday.

Westshore said Wednesday that its Westshore Terminals Limited Partnership had received 72 hours’ strike notice from ILWU Local 502, which represents workers at its coal export terminal in Roberts Bank, British Columbia.

The company said it had been negotiating with the union for several months over a new collective agreement after a previous agreement and two others expired on January 21. 31.

While further talks are scheduled, the strike notice will halt work on December 1. 19 resulting in the complete suspension of operations, the company said.

The terminal is critical to Teck’s coal volumes as upgrades to the Canadian miner’s Neptune Terminal are not expected to be completed until the end of the first quarter of next year, Scotiabank analysts said Thursday in a rating.

Teck is assessing potential impacts and preparing mitigation strategies, including the ability to ship additional capacity through other terminals, in the event of a strike, spokesman Chris Stannell said.

He cited the company’s Neptune Terminal and Ridley Terminals, owned by Riverstone Holdings LLC, AMCI Group and Lax Kw’alaams and Metlakatla First Nations.

“We hope that a fair and reasonable settlement for both parties will be reached as soon as possible,” Stannell said.

“We currently have an inventory in port and continue to load ships as usual for the time being.”

Westshore did not respond to a request for comment Thursday. Union president Rob Ashton declined to comment.

The terminal has a throughput capacity of 33 million tonnes, according to its website.

Teck increased steelmaking coal shipments to China to take advantage of restrictions on Australian imports.