B.C.’s mining sector continues to chug along the comeback trail, fueled by Ole King Coal.
Pine Valley Mining Corp. says it plans to start production in June at its Willow Creek coal mine, about 45 kilometres west of Chetwynd in northeast B.C.’s Peace River district.
The Vancouver company has a tentative agreement with “a leading coal-trading company” for a $10-million loan to kickstart the project. The firm intends to begin shipments and ramp up production to 95,000 tonnes a month by September.
The deal requires Pine Valley to raise a minimum additional $3 million, for a total of $13 million that’s required to complete the initial mine construction and begin operations.
In return, the coal-trading company will purchase 600,000 tonnes of coal from Pine Valley over the next two years, and will be Pine Valley’s exclusive agent to sell its Willow Creek coal to Japan, Korea and Taiwan.
The coal is a high-quality, low-sulphur, low-ash product used in steel production.
In another sign of renewed mining mettle, Vancouver-based Western Canadian Coal Corp. says it will start producing coal again near Tumbler Ridge in northeast B.C.
The town’s fortunes sagged after declining coal prices shut the area’s two coal mines – the area’s biggest employers – in 2001 and 2003.
Western Canadian Coal plans to start construction on its new Wolverine mine near Tumbler Ridge as early as October, with production by early 2006.
The coal firm also signed a deal earlier this month to explore and evaluate the mine-development potential on Talisman Energy Inc.’s Sukunka coal licences, about 50 kilometres south of Chetwynd. Western Canadian hopes to develop an initial underground mine on the property within two years.
What’s the reason for the renewed investment in coal mining? In one word: China.
The emerging Asian economic powerhouse accounts for about 23 per cent of the world’s demand for coal. In the last two years, China has gone from being a large net exporter of metallurgical coal to a net importer.
This has helped drive up coal prices to $44 US a tonne this year, a 50-per-cent increase compared with a year ago.
Last week, B.C. Minister of State for Mining Pat Bell announced amendments to the Coal Act to streamline the administration of coal tenures. The government says the new legislation will eliminate 49 regulatory requirements, or 34 per cent of what it considers “red tape,” while continuing to uphold strong environmental guidelines and health and safety standards Ole King Coal’s return is welcome news for Tumbler Ridge, which teetered on the edge of becoming a ghost town a few years ago. Bungalows that sold for $50,000 in January are now selling in the high $60,000 range or more as people line up to buy homes.
Polluter Pleads, Pays Up
Also near Chetwynd, it looks like the final chapter has been written on a three-year-old pipeline oil spill into the Pine River.
Federated Pipe Lines Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Calgary-based Pembina Pipeline Income Fund, has pled guilty in B.C. provincial court to polluting the fish-bearing river with crude oil, in contravention of the federal Fisheries Act.
Federated Pipe Lines was sentenced to a penalty of $200,000, including a fine of $5,000 and a payment of $195,000 to a federal environmental damages fund. The money will be used to conserve and protect fish habitat in the Peace River watershed.
Environment Canada laid charges after an investigation revealed that on July 31, 2000, a pipeline operated by Federated Pipe Lines ruptured and spilled more than 6,000 barrels of oil into the Pine River – being used as Chetwynd’s drinking water source. The rupture was caused by a defect in the pipeline.
Pembina Pipeline responded quickly to contain and clean up the oil spill.
In a separate agreement, the Chetwynd District Council also accepted Pembina Pipeline’s final payment of $1.4 million to cover the outstanding costs associated with the spill, finding an alternative water source and reconnection to the river as the town’s main water supply.
Said Chetwynd Mayor Evan Saugstad: “We’re ready now to move forward and put this incident behind us.”
Dam Raises Concerns
B.C. Hydro will have a fight on its hands if it tries to build its long-shelved Site C dam on the Peace River – and not just from the green brigade.
According to documents filed with the B.C. Utilities Commission, B.C. Hydro would rely on the private sector to provide up to 99 per cent of the cost of building a $2.1-billion earth-filled dam across the Peace, about seven kilometres southwest of Fort St. John.
The environmental footprint of the Site C dam would be 5,125 hectares – about 13 times the size of Vancouver’s Stanley Park.
The project would flood about 4,400 hectares, force the relocation of 25 families living on farms along the Peace River and harm fish habitat.
Environmentalists in Alberta say the dam will harm fisheries and waterfowl in the Peace-Athabasca River Delta around Wood Buffalo National Park.
Alberta Environment Minister Lorne Taylor is calling on B.C. to sign a water-sharing agreement with his province – guaranteeing Alberta a certain percentage of the waterflow in the Peace River – before making any decision on the Site C project.
Bob Elton, B.C. Hydro’s president and CEO, said a decision to proceed would be up to the provincial cabinet.
But Elton and Premier Gordon Campbell’s Liberals would be ‘power-smart’ to consult with the Alberta government long before this dam plan gets off the drawing board.
A Win-Wind Deal
B.C. wind-energy firms are making inroads in the U.S. and abroad.
Greenwind Power Corp. of Vancouver has entered into a joint venture with China Link Industries Group Inc. of Shanghai. Along with U.S.-based Optimal Ventures Inc., Greenwind plans to develop and operate a 50-megawatt wind farm on Daishan Island, located just south of Shanghai in Zhejiang province.
Greenwind says it also expects to announce in the near future its first wind-farm project in southern Alberta.
Western Wind Energy Corp. of Coquitlam says the Arizona Public Service has agreed to buy energy produced by windmills installed by the B.C. firm.
Western Wind has been hired to provide 10 Danish-made wind turbines capable of producing a total of 15 MW from a 400-acre site near the town of St. Johns, close to the New Mexico border.
