Fording Canadian Coal Trust and Teck Cominco, which own Elk Valley Coal, confirmed the joint-venture received the strike notice.
The United Steelworkers (USW) union said in a statement they remain ready to negotiate, but major "monetary and nonmonetary" issues still have to be resolved.
USW staff representative Steve Dewell said on May 9, workers voted 99.5% in favour of taking strike action to back up their union's demands, after their collective agreement expired on October 31, 2005.
"We remain ready and available to negotiate with this company," he said.
"But it has to make a move soon to avoid a work stoppage. It certainly has more than enough profits to share with its workforce."
The Elkview open pit mine is the second largest coal producer among five mines in the Elk Valley, southeastern BC. It is the Valley' s number one producer of high grade metallurgical coal.
