Canada’s rugged shorelines have an inner beauty too
Canada is blessed with many distinct features; most notably its thousands of fresh-water lakes, its flat, fertile and seemingly endless prairie lands; a long and open border with its largest trading partner and probably most outstanding of all, mountainous coastal regions that flank the country with rugged beauty.
It’s truly a country of distinction but perhaps its most outstanding features are not visible, they’re buried deep beneath the surface; an abundance of minerals that are almost second to none anywhere in the world.
From the iron-rich regions of Newfoundland and Labrador in the east, to the gold and other precious metals in Ontario, through potash, uranium and oil midway through the country to finally, the B.C. coast and the wealth of ore found in the Rocky Mountains, Canada is a nation bursting with a plenitude of minerals.
Coal, as mentioned in the previous articles, is found on both coasts (plus Alberta and Saskatchewan) but nowhere is it more plentiful and easy to access than in British Columbia.
Its mountains are loaded with it and according to the British Columbia Geological Survey, Ministry of Energy and Mines, B.C.’s 10 permitted coal mines produces close to 58% of revenues for all mines in the province.
Coal comes from four regions; five mines in the southeastern part of the province and three in the northeastern part where mainly coking and pulverized coal injection (PCI) coal is produced, while two other mines, the Quinsam mine on Vancouver Island and the Basin mine in the southwest interior produce thermal coal.
In total, these 10 mines produced an estimated 31.2 million tonnes of coal valued at about $4.6 million last year.
Bruce Madu, Director, Mineral Development Office, British Columbia Geological Survey, points out that exploration expenditures by companies looking to expand or find new coal deposits reached about $119 million and new coal license applications numbered 155 in 2013 for a total of 197,681 hectares.
“For the first time since 2007, the province also issued new coal leases,” says Madu. “A 3800 ha-lease expanded the existing lease at Teck Coal Limited’s Mount Babcock project, southeast of Tumbler Ridge.”
As a further sign that coal is of growing interest, Madu says The Government of Canada is also considering an open, competitive sale of parts of the Dominion Coal Blocks in the Kootenay region.
Historically the Dominion Coal Blocks were acquired by the Government of Canada in 1905 in exchange for financial support for railway construction through the Crow’s Nest Pass and if the sale proceeds, it will open 20,235 hectares of land that has been off limits for coal mining for well over a century.
That’s another sure sign that coal mining in British Columbia is still a hot topic and when the Federal government shows interest, the prospects for the future of the industry looks even more promising.
Even despite a recent headline in The Globe and Mail’s ‘Report on Business’ saying; “Price slump hits B.C. coal miners,” the coal sector still remains reasonably strong thanks to the companies that have helped keep the province’s coal production between 22 and over 30 million tonnes for the past 20 years.
As mentioned earlier, easy access to the various sites makes the province’s coal deposits attractive to mining companies but the province’s export infrastructure is what has helped put B.C. on the world map insofar as delivery is concerned.
Coal produced in much of the southeastern region is transported by rail to Westshore and Neptune terminals in the Vancouver area for export while coal from mines in the northwest part of the province is transported by rail to the Ridley Terminals near Prince Rupert (see photos on Pages 16-17).
Thermal coal from the Quinsam mine on Vancouver Island and from the Basin mine midway in the province near the U.S. border, is shipped to international markets from facilities on Texada Island in the Strait of Georgia, and Neptune Bulk Terminals in North Vancouver. Domestic markets are supplied by truck and barge.
Similarly on the East Coast, Nova Scotia’s two main coal mines in the Cape Breton and Pictou County regions are also serviced by an infrastructure system that enables them to deliver coal by ship, rail and truck to offshore and domestic customers.
From the province’s main producers, Nova Scotia’s existing surface coal operations produce in the range of 250,000 to 500,000 tonnes a year. Provincial thermal coal generation consumes about two million tonnes of coal per year, much of which is now mostly imported.
Plans for more domestic coal production include the Donkin Mine Project, a submarine coal resource block with an annual underground production potential of three to four million tonnes per year.
The project is one of the larger standalone undeveloped coking and thermal coal opportunities in North America and is expected to be among the lowest cost coking coal mines in the world.
From Vancouver Island to the Eastern-most shore of Cape Breton Island, Canada is home to some of the more abundant sources of coal in the world and that’s why its “Coastal Coal” mines are such an asset to the coal mining industry in Canada.
And they’re located in two of the more beautiful parts of the country too!
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