Canada nixes Glencore’s proposed open pit coal mine project in BC

Canada has rejected Glencore’s (LSE: GLEN) proposed open-pit Sukunka coal mine project near Tumbler Ridge in British Columbia on environmental grounds.

The coal mine, 55 km south of Chetwynd and 40 km west of Tumbler Ridge, would have produced three million tonnes of hard coking coal per year.

The metallurgical coal mine would have had a mine life of up to 20 years, and a coal handling and processing plant to produce premium steel-making coal for export to overseas steel manufacturers.

According to Glencore’s website, the project would have involved a “significant capital investment—estimated to be approximately $450 million (CDN),” and would “create significant economic benefits, especially for the people and First Nations of northeastern British Columbia.”

In a statement issued after markets closed on Dec. 21, Canada noted that the proposed mine would cause “significant” environmental damage and that “the project therefore cannot proceed.”

The federal government noted that a project assessment conducted by the province on its behalf concluded that the proposed mine would have adverse impacts across a number of areas related to: Southern Mountain caribou and its habitat; Grizzly bears due to increased mortality; “the discharge of mercury and selenium into local waterbodies”; and the “physical and cultural heritage, current use of lands and resources for traditional purposes and health and socio-economic conditions” of Indigenous peoples.

“The scientific evidence gathered in assessing this project showed that its negative impacts were significant and could not be mitigated,” Steven Guilbeault, Canada’s Minister of Environment and Climate Change, stated in the news release.

But the government also noted that the decision “does not prevent Glencore, or other proponents, from submitting new project proposals and does not preclude other potential developments.”

In an email to The Northern Miner, Glencore stated that: “We note the decision made by the Provincial Government of British Columbia and the Canadian Federal Government regarding the Environmental Assessment Certificate for our Sukunka steelmaking coal project. We will now review the decision, while also having regard to our Climate Change commitments, before determining next steps.”