Ranchers to fight coal bid in Alberta court

Applications to drill for metallurgical coal in southwestern Alberta are pitting ranchers against an exploration company backed by Australian mining billionaire Gina Rinehart.

Calgary-based Northback Holdings, a subsidiary of Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting, submitted applications last year to the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) for permits to drill at its Grassy Mountain project in the Crowsnest Pass region.

In February, the AER accepted the applications and decided they should be assessed by commissioners in a hearing. The Municipal District of Ranchland moved to appeal that acceptance, but the AER denied the appeal on Tuesday.

The district is now taking the issue to the Alberta Court of Appeal in a bid to reverse the AER’s acceptance of the applications.

The Northern Miner has requested further comment from the district.

Support for project

The court action echoes a case in Australia this year where cattle farmers opposed a carbon injection plan at a coal power plant, saying it would contaminate underground water aquifers.

Northback, which in 2022 changed its name from Benga Mining, is requesting in its permits to drill 37 holes on 25 drill pads, with 13 pads on Crown land and 12 on private land.

The Grassy Mountain project has drawn the support of First Nations, municipal leaders, local businesses, charities and citizens, with 70 out 86 submitted letters endorsing it, Northback said in a May 23 news release.

“We are very pleased by the high levels of tangible support from Albertans for the drilling program,” Northback CEO Mike Young said. “People recognize the economic benefits that a future mine could bring into the region through jobs and investment.” 

The company also cited the cooperation of the Piikani First Nation, whose reserve is 50 km from Grassy Mountain, on environmental management to protect the land, water and wildlife around the project.

Decades of coal

About 30 million tonnes of coal was mined in the Crowsnest Pass by several companies from 1900 to 1968. Exploration work resumed in the area in the 1970s.

But further coal development efforts in the region have hit snags in recent years.

After Hancock Prospecting in 2019 acquired Benga, previously owned by Australia’s Riversdale Resources, the federal government in 2021 rejected Benga’s application to build an open-pit mine with a 23-year life. In its decision, the government said the project could cause negative impacts on the environment and wildlife. Less than a week later, Benga sought to appeal the decision.

Earlier that year, the Alberta government reinstated its 1976 coal policy that limited development in some areas of the Rockies, though it didn’t affect Grassy Mountain.

Though little activity took place in Benga’s exploration bid in 2022, shortly after the Alberta government’s coal policy reinstatement, it deemed Grassy Mountain an “advanced coal project” making it exempt from suspensions under the  policy.