Coalspur Mines Ltd. has acquired leases to large sections of land near Hinton, doubling the size of a coal mine being scoped there and bringing the size of the mine up to 20 kilometres in length.

The total leased land, with its western most edge located less than one kilometre away from Hinton, has the potential to turn into one of the largest and most significant coal mines in North America and could rival the scope of the Coal Valley mine south of Edson (it produces about 4 million tonnes of coal a year and employs hundreds of people), once the project is in full swing.

The two new leases are added onto two existing leases which were expected to produce about 467.3 million tonnes of low sulphur, high volatile bituminous, export quality coal. The two new leases bring the total up to 905.7 million tonnes. The leases will all be treated as one project, which could be turned into a fully operational mine by 2013. 

Coalspur is currently conducting a pre-feasibility study which will determine the reserve amount of coal, the annual production rate, the location of all infrastructure and the cost of the mines (within a range of 15 per cent).

After this comes the environmental study, which will determine the affect of the mine on the surrounding ecosystems and which should take about one year to complete.

According to Dermott Lane, vice-president of development for Coalspur, the Hinton-area is ideally positioned to serve locations overseas markets such as China, South Korea, Taiwan and in the Pacific Rim.

“We have seen an uptick in the thermal coal market as of late,” said Lane, referring to the growth and development of demands for energy in China and Asia in recent decades.

He said many Chinese mines are experiencing a number of demands that make shipping in coal from Hinton cost effective. Many mines in China are aging and already have to transport their coal long distances from interior areas to the coast along rail lines that are also aging or not completely tied into existing transport networks. This means that while China does have many coal mines, it does not always have the infrastructure necessary to bring the coal to where it’s needed, said Lane.

Hinton in comparison is already tied into an existing, well-maintained rail line that is ready to ship coal out to Prince Rupert, a port Lane also believes is under-utilized. This means coal can be loaded and shipped to China easier than in some of the ports that are currently serving the Chinese market.

Lane also said that the coal near Hinton is characterized as ‘low release.’ This means that a dragline mine (dragline mining in its larger operations is called strip mining and essentially means dragging a large bucket on a crane across the land) could be used in the mines, instead of the comparatively more expensive truck and shovel method of mining. Truck and shovel mining uses a larger network of trucks and vehicles to extract coal, which is typically deeper and harder to get at and costs more than dragline mining.

While Coalspur has now acquired leases that give it access to land approximately 20 km in length for coal mining, Lane said that land would be mined piece by piece over the years.

“The lifetime of an operation this size has to be in the magnitude of at least 20 years. That’s just the long-term economics necessary to sustain an operation this size,” said Lane. 

At a recent Foothills Institute presentation, Sharad Karmacharya, a land management planner with Sustainable Resource Development, talked about the restoration efforts that have happened at the Luscar and Gregg River mine sites, near Hinton. While those sites have seen animal numbers boom and the landscape appears green and lush, Karmacharya explained that the land use management side of the restoration work could have gone smoother.

The land use management plan for the restored lands was begun after the re-growth work had already started. Karmacharya explained that a better way might have been to develop the land use plan before the restoration work started.

Practically, this means some mining roads could remain open after Coalspur is finished restoring the land around them. Management consultations might find quad riders and nature walkers would like a road in that location. 

Karmacharya explained he will consult with a number of mining companies in Alberta about developing the land use plans sooner. He said that Coalspur was certainly on his list to talk with.

He also explained at the meeting that one of the difficulties with developing the land use management plan might be liability. If the road was built by a mining company, but is now being managed by the province and SRD, who is responsible for it?