They were raised in Alberta coal country, a hoot and a holler northeast of Camrose, about 90 kilometres southeast of Edmonton – two happy-go-lucky Coal Miner’s Daughters.

Then, sisters Paula and Dayna Nordby grew up and established their own households. Today, they run the family business, known as the Dodds Coal Mine, as a four-way partnership with their respective husbands.

It’s the only operating small-scale coal mine in Canada. And don’t let anyone tell you there’s no cash to be made gouging sub-bituminous coal from the prairie.

After 80-odd years of production, the family-operated Dodds open-pit mine recently exceeded $1 million in annual revenue, as a steady stream of cost-conscious consumers seek shelter from inflated and highly-volatile natural gas prices.

“We’re mining 15 acres. In the last three or four years, we’ve taken more coal out of here than they did in the mine’s first 50 years of operation,” said Paula’s husband, Don Bowal, who manages the mine.

Jack Dagley photo, for Business Edge
Paula and Don Bowal and son David stand in a wheat field next to their family-owned open coal pit near Camrose.

In fact, the Dodds Coal Mine has doubled production and total sales within the past two years. As a rule of thumb, the Bowals and their partners – Dayna and Peter Kudrowich – now routinely plan for an annual volume increase of about 20 per cent.

They estimate their current site will be played out within five years. When it happens, they’ll shift operations “about four miles down the road” to another coal-rich site already leased.

In any case, they’re not worried about running dry. “There’s more coal in the world than any other natural resource,” Paula chipped in.

“And until something comes along that’s able to compete with the price of coal, our market is only going to get stronger,” Don added.

Since assuming control of the mine from Dayna’s and Paula’s father, James, in 1984, the family operation has built an impressive customer base of about 2,500. The Bowals also maintain a nearby farm. But they’ve dramatically scaled back their agricultural efforts in recent years because their booming little mine now supplies consumers, large and small, from B.C.’s Fraser Valley to Manitoba.

Customers pay a stable price of about $27 per ton (the mine resolutely insists on using Imperial measures to record volumes) for the product. Some large hog operations, including Manitoba-based Hutterite colonies, consume as much as 400 tons of Dodds Mine coal every month.

“We’ll take care of you, whether you come in with a five-gallon pail or a Super-B grain hauler,” Don grinned.

(The Bowals say their per-ton excavation costs exceed those of industry leaders such as Luscar.

Those costs are reflected by slightly higher retail prices at the Dodds Mine.)

Consumer interest in coal-fired heat took a quantum leap forward during the late 1990s, when natural gas prices began streaking due north. Business at the Dodds Mine picked up even more during the winter of 2000-2001, when gas prices in Alberta trebled.

By contrast, the price of coal has risen an annual average of two per cent over the last 10 years.

Rural farmers or greenhouse operators do take a significant initial hit when they first convert to central coal-fired boilers, located outside the home or outbuilding in question.

These boilers, which can cost up to $10,000 in conversion costs for a home and the equivalent of an outdoor garage, produce safe, relatively clean and ultra-efficient warm-water heat at a fraction of the cost of propane or gas-fired heating units.

Conversion costs for larger operations can run as high as $50,000.

And yet . . .

“The economics are pretty good,” Don convincingly argued.

“Our customers can recoup installation costs within a few years. Instead of paying $20,000 a month for heating fuel, they’ll pay $4,000 to $5,000 a month for the equivalent heat source from coal. That includes transport costs.”

Today’s coal-fired boilers burn more efficiently than the basement dust- generators of yesteryear.

Manufacturers have moved quickly to produce a new generation of coal-fired stokers, some of which are claiming efficiency ratios as high as 98 per cent. Cost: in excess of $16,000 US.

Others are cheaper and a bit more low-tech, such as those produced by Manitoba’s Decker Hutterite Colony. Meanwhile, the Bowals and their partners have already worked out a succession plan.

David Bowal, 22, recently completed business-management and marketing courses at the Northern Institute of Technology, with an eye to eventually running the mine.

In the meantime, he’s learning the family business from ground level.

“He’s starting at the bottom of the pit,” his mother smiled. “That’s where he is right now.”