B.C.’s mining industry is forecast to have the highest rate of growth of any sector in the province’s economy next year – 13.2 per cent in real GDP gain, according to a forecast by Credit Union Central of B.C.

Several new coal mines in the province’s northeast are planned, fuelled by nearly insatiable demand in China and other parts of Asia that can’t get enough metallurgical coal for steel-making.

“Coal, one of the most valuable commodities mined in B.C., is playing a key role in our province’s ongoing turnaround,” Pat Bell, minister of state for mining, told the 45th Canadian Conference on Coal held recently in Kananaskis, Alta.

Signs of the resurgence are everywhere. A $400-million electrified BC Rail spur line, from the new coal town of Tumbler Ridge in the northeast to Chetwynd, is expected to be back in operation by early December.

Western Canada Coal Corp., with coal from its new Dillon Mine near Chetwynd and its proposed Wolverine mine near Tumbler Ridge, will be the rail line’s first customer.

The line was shut down only 18 months ago after the last coal shipment from Teck-Cominco’s Bullmoose mine near Tumbler Ridge.

Also, the $250-million Ridley Island Coal Terminal in Prince Rupert – currently operating at five per cent of its capacity – is now expected to handle up to 10 million tonnes of coal annually within the next five years as more mines are opened, according to a report in the Vancouver Sun.

A consortium of coal producers, including Western Canada, Teck-Cominco, Aurora Coal and Mining Inc., Northern Energy and Mining, and Sumitomo Corp., expects to submit a bid for control of the terminal.

Last month, Bell gathered in Vancouver with VIPs from Korean steelmaker Posco, Japanese financier Marubeni and Pine Valley Mining Corp. to celebrate the first shipment from a new coal mine in 20 years in B.C.

But they missed the boat – literally!

So hot is the demand for B.C.’s steel-making coal that the Delta Pride, loaded with 37,000 tonnes of pulverized coal-injection product, sailed out of port two days earlier than expected.

Exploration activity is also growing across the province, with applications for almost 100,000 hectares in new coal licences over the last year.

Not surprisingly, environmental groups are warily eyeing all this activity and wondering about its impact on B.C.’s “super-natural” landscape.

However, the provincial government last week committed $800,000 and appointed a provincial species-at-risk recovery co-ordinator to speed up progress in protecting and recovering mountain caribou and other species at risk, such as the marbled murrelet and spotted owl.

It’s a smart move and one that the Alberta government – which has been dithering for six years in implementing a recovery plan for the threatened woodland caribou just across the Rockies – would be wise to emulate.

Air Quality At Risk: Report

As if residents in the Lower Mainland didn’t have enough reasons to oppose Washington State-based Sumas Energy 2’s $400-million, 660-megawatt planned power plant just across the border from Abbotsford, along comes another.

Rapid growth in population, transportation demands and energy consumption in the airsheds of southern B.C. and northern Washington is stressing the region’s environment and public health, according to a new study by Environment Canada and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, released earlier this month.

The research, conducted over two years by air-quality researchers and other scientists in the Georgia Basin-Puget Sound region, focuses on ground-level ozone, fine particulate matter and visibility in the trans-boundary airshed.

Population in the region has grown to more than seven million people from six million in 1991, and is expected to hit nine million by 2020.

Current levels of air pollution have a negative impact on human health and the environment, concluded Bruce Thomson, a senior scientist for Environment Canada who prepared the study for this country. “These results support the need for continuous improvements of air quality.”

Sumas Energy 2’s (SE2) proposed power plant, even though it would be a state-of-the-art, natural gas-fired facility, is projected to emit almost 2.2 million tonnes of carbon dioxide, along with 720 tonnes of smog-producing pollutants, into the region’s airshed.

Canada’s Federal Court of Appeal has granted SE2 the right to appeal a decision by this country’s National Energy Board denying the U.S. company a permit to build the Canadian portion of an international power line needed for the power plant. The case is expected to be heard next year.

You can bet that opponents of the SE2 plant, which include the B.C. and federal governments, will be adding this new international study to their arsenal of arguments against the project.

Profit Gushers

Oilpatch companies are enjoying record third-quarter earnings.

Imperial Oil Ltd. reported a record-high third-quarter profit of $539 million or $1.52 per share. That compared with a profit of $375 million or $1.01 per share in the same quarter last year.

Shell Canada Ltd. also had its most profitable third quarter ever. It reported profits of $451 million or $1.64 per share, up 94 per cent from $232 million or 84 cents per share in last year’s third quarter.

Husky Energy Inc.’s third-quarter profit rose 15 per cent, despite a hedging program that trimmed $115 million from the bottom line. The company reported income of $286 million for the quarter or 70 cents per share, up from $249 million or 56 cents per share in the same quarter last year.

Nexen Inc. also reported an increase in profit for the third quarter this year, to $220 million or $1.69 per share, compared with $171 million or $1.35 per share a year earlier.

(Mark Lowey can be reached at mark@businessedge.ca)