ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT: First Coal to skip small mine designation

BRITISH COLUMBIA - Vancouver's First Coal Corp., a privately held company, has decided to move directly into the environmental assessment (EA) process for its Central South property west of Chetwynd.

The company had been planning a first phase of operation involving a small mine, operating at an annual production rate of 245,000 tonnes of metallurgical coal. The small mine phase would have been followed by an EA process and permitting phase that would enable production to step up to 3 million t/y.

The EA process will include consultations with local communities and Treaty 8 First Nations. It will take will take between 18 and 20 months to complete.

First coal plans test mining for this month at Central South using a remote controlled underground method. The method, unique in Canada, accesses the narrow, steeply dipping coal seams using a series of trenches and the Addcar's any dip highwall mining system (www.AddcarSystems.com).

First Coal, incorporated in late 2004, has been developing two of its properties, Central South and South Cirque. Please see www.FirstCoal.com.