Westmoreland Mining Holdings (LLC) subsidiary Prairie Mines and Royalty is reopening the Coal Valley mine near Edson, Alta. The mine has been on care and maintenance since June 2020 due to severe constraints due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Production is scheduled to restart in the fourth quarter, restoring 300 direct jobs and up to 750 indirect jobs.
The reopening will add approximately $30 million per year to the local tax base and at least $3 million in taxes and royalties to the province. It is also expected to generate $60 million annually in economic activity in multiple sectors as the mine purchases supplies and services.
The Coal Valley surface mine exports bituminous coal to customers in Japan and Korea as well as domestically. It was opened in 1978 to supply coal to Ontario Hydro. The mine removes coal with both truck-and-shovel technology and removes overburden using a dragline. Before the shutdown, the mine produced 3 million tonnes/year, although the plant has a capacity of 4 million t/y.
April 18, 2024
6 Comments
Joe Bujnowski
What is life of mine expected to be
Jane
What coal terminal will the mine ship through?
Marilyn Scales
Ridley Terminal in Prince Rupert, BC.
Katie Diggens
What watershed or watersheds is this going to affect? It is impossible to have safe levels of selenium. B.C. Still has not solved the problem of poisoning rivers with high toxic levels of selenium.
Sean Kehoe
Why does the radical environmental movement continue to think that they can just lie about industries inability to manage selenium? It is not “impossible” to have safe levels of selenium, that is ridiculous.
Michael Howard
Did you open the old coal valley coal mine ?
if so how do i get a phone # to contact the mine