Luscar prepares for Cheviot duel — Environmental challenge threatens mine’s future

The battle over the future development of the proposed Cheviot coal mine rages on, slowly. The two combatants are Canada’s largest coal producer, Luscar Coal Income Fund, and a consortium of environmental groups led by the Sierra Legal Defense Fund.

A procedural hearing was recently held in the town of Hinton to determine the process, timing and scope of the official hearing, which, in turn, should determine the fate of the Cheviot mine. A response from the board concerning the date of the official hearing is expected shortly.

The Cheviot project is viewed as a replacement for the nearly depleted Luscar mine, 50 km south of the town of Hinton. The Luscar mine is nestled in the foothills of the Rockies and its western boundary lies just 3 km from Jasper National Park. The Cheviot site is 30 km south of the Luscar mine.

Luscar and Cheviot are part of a 50-50 joint venture between Luscar and Pittsburgh-based Consolidation Coal (CONSOL). Cardinal River Coals (CRC) is acting as operator for the joint venture.

In early April, a federal court ruled that the environmental assessment study was incomplete. As a consequence, authorization for the previously approved Cheviot project was overturned. Judge Douglas Campbell ruled that the study was flawed, stating specifically that it did not consider alternatives to open-pit mining, such as underground development, nor did it take into account the total effect of all of the other mining and logging activity planned for the same region. Another concern was that the original Joint Review Panel neglected to gather independent assessment of the work performed by Luscar and its associates.

“Neither Cardinal River Coals nor the people who work at the mine nor the town of Hinton would diminish the importance of a sound, thorough environmental impact assessment,” says Ross Risvold, the mayor of Hinton. “On the contrary, it is a necessary process to ensure responsible resource development. However, once that process has been completed and the approvals are granted, there must be a way to bring closure to it.”

On a recent tour through the area, The Northern Miner visited the Luscar mine and the proposed Cheviot mine site.

Production of coal from the Luscar mine began in 1921. Its main customers were the steam locomotives crossing Canada. The coal was extracted using conventional underground methods, and production peaked during and after the Second World War. The mine was closed in 1956 after the railways converted to diesel fuel, following the discovery of oil in Alberta in 1947. The colliery reopened in 1969 as a surface mining operation and has provided coking coal to overseas customers ever since.

On the environmental front, not only have Luscar’s reclamation programs won awards; they have also resulted in the establishment of one of the largest herds of bighorn sheep in Alberta. CRC says environmental planning and protection of natural resources are being integrated into the company’s coal mining process.

The company adds that its decision to develop the Cheviot project is related to its determination to continue to provide coal to its international customers, secure jobs for its workforce, and maintain economic benefits for the local community. The mine has only about four years of reserves left, and CRC says it will take three years to get the project up and running.

Cheviot is on Crown land zoned for coal mining under all government land-use regulations. The first coal leases in the Coal Branch area of Alberta were granted in 1910 to the Mountain Park Coal mine. These initial leases are still owned by the Luscar and CONSOL joint venture and represent the Cheviot project site. Conventional underground production at the Mountain Park mine began in 1913. The Mountain Park community thrived until 1950 until the decline in coal markets forced the mine and the town to shut down.

The Cheviot project site covers about 7,100 ha and contains a total resource estimated at 70 million tonnes — enough to support a mine life of 20 years. Cheviot is expected to produce high-quality bituminous metallurgical coal at the rate of 3.2 million tonnes per year.

The primary coal seam mined at the Luscar mine is known as the Jewel, and this seam will also be mined at the Cheviot site. It has an average thickness of 10-12 metres, and, in some areas, folding and faulting have produced pods of coal up to 40 metres thick.

If the project is approved, coal will be mined by the truck-and-shovel method simultaneously in several pits. Over the mine’s life, CRC estimates that 38% of the total property (2,700 ha) will be disturbed by mining and subsequently reclaimed.

The preparation plant at Cheviot will be designed to separate raw coal into four size fractions, which will then be washed in either a heavy media vessel, heavy media cyclones, a hydro cyclone or hydroclone/spiral or by froth cells. A single thermal dryer with the capacity to evaporate 40 tonnes of water per hour is also included in the design plans. The clean coal storage facility will be able to hold up to 48,000 tonnes, and the on-ground clean coal storage facility will have a 50,000-tonne capacity.

The load-out at the Cheviot mine will be a batch weight system with loading being done at a peak capacity of 4,550 tonnes per hour, enabling a unit train to be loaded in less than four hours.

Mine development costs are pegged at $250 million, which includes construction of a coal processing plant, restoration of the former CNR rail line, upgrading the existing road access and the installation of electrical transmission lines.

On the other side of the battlefield, the environmental consortium argues that CRC is planning to develop the Cheviot mine in what is classified by the government as a “critical wildlife zone.” Under this classification, industrial activities are permitted provided they do not interfere with long-term wildlife habitats. The environmentalists believe a series of open pits would create havoc in the Cardinal River Divide area, threatening prime grizzly bear habitat as well as other endangered plant and animal species.

“We are convinced that once all the information is made available, specifically the alternatives and the cumulative effects of the mine, it will be obvious that the Cheviot site is not the appropriate spot for a mine,” says Dianne Pachal, spokesman for the Alberta Wilderness Association, one of the environmental groups represented by the consortium. She maintains that the long-term goal of the consortium is to extend the existing provincial park to include the critical wildlife zone lands. The small park currently encompasses the top of Cardinal Watershed Divide.

“The features seen there [at the Cheviot site] are of national significance,” says Pachal. “There is a whole complex of rare and uncommon plants, animals and particularly insects.”

She adds that the first review neglected to address adequately the cumulative effects of the mine, and environmental groups are concerned that the ecological integrity of the neighbouring Jasper National Park would be greatly compromised by mine development.

William Hume, general manager of the Luscar mine, tells The Nothern Miner that Jasper Park officials have never reported any ecological or environmental problems with respect to Luscar, which has been operating in the area for 30 years.

Another concern that the consortium will address is alternatives to open-pit mining, and the environmental effects of those alternatives.

“We looked at underground mining and included that in our environmental impact assessment, which was submitted to the initial review board,” says Hume. “When the professional engineer on the panel reviewed the report, he knew that underground mining just wasn’t viable economically, so it was never dealt with extensively in the final report.”

The mayor of Hinton warned that if the mine does not get approved the town would loose between 900-to-1000 direct and indirect jobs, which would be drastic blow for a community of 10,000 people.

The Sierra Club of Canada states that the issue is not as simplistic as
“jobs verses the environment.” The organization says that economic alternatives that are more environmentally friendly exist and need to be explored. The land-use plan for the region emphasizes a need to diversify from a resource-based economy and recommends tourism based on the area’s most outstanding natural features.

“An average miner at CRC earns about $60,000 per year,” says Risvold. “The view that mine workers should sacrifice this wage and become tour guides is irresponsible and unrealistic.”

Risvold says he is confident the deficiencies that overturned the first government approval have been addressed. Still, Luscar is not minimizing the challenges that lie ahead, says Joanne Miller, the company’s public relations officer:

“We got an admission from them [the environmentalists] that this is all about delay tactics. It has nothing to do with balance, it has to do with stopping industrial development fully and completely.”