COAL DEVELOPMENT NEWS Western Canadian Plans Perry Creek Development

WESTERN CANADIAN COAL is making plans to begin development of its Perry Creek coal mine by the fourth quarter of this year. The open pit project includes 24 coal licences on the trend between the Bullmoose and Quintette mines in northeast British Columbia.

The company recently delivered a bulk sample to BIRTLEY COAL & INDUSTRIAL MINERALS TESTING of Vancouver. Samples were washed, tested and prepared for customer evaluation. The new sample appears to confirm criteria set out in the feasibility study of low in-place ash content (9-14%) and plant yield in the range of 80-83% for run-of-mine J seam coal.

The Perry Creek plans call for open pit production lasting eight years at an annual rate of 1.6 million tonnes of saleable metallurgical coal. Development of an underground mine, which could yield 8.0 million tonnes of saleable coal, is deferred. The Perry Creek deposit is one of three in the 60-million-tonne Wolverine property. Incremental expansion to 3.0 million tonnes annually within five years is under consideration.

For more information on the Perry Creek proposal and Western Canadian's other coal properties, visit www.westerncoal.com