Vancouver — Robust prices for coal have prompted Western Canadian Coal (WTN-T) to accelerate construction of a coal-preparation plant and rail-loading facilities at the Wolverine project by six months, to July of 2006 from early 2007. Wolverine is situated near Tumbler Ridge, in the northeastern coal-mining district of British Columbia.
The company initially filed an environmental assessment for a project capable of producing 1.6 million tonnes of clean metallurgical coal per year over a projected 11-year mine life. Permits were subsequently filed to boost annual production to 2.4 million tonnes. A decision is expected later this year.
Meanwhile, construction of the $242-million coal mine and related facilities at Wolverine are under way. This newly updated capital-cost estimate includes accelerated pre-stripping, costs to build the larger plant, and contingencies of about $30 million.
Drilling is also planned in hopes of boosting future production to 3 million tonnes of coal per year at the Wolverine properties, and 5 million tonnes company-wide by 2009.
The company also hopes to boost production at its Dillon mine. If the application is approved, production would be about 800,000 tonnes of pulverized coal injection (PCI) coal for the company’s first fiscal year of operation (ending March 31, 2006).
The Dillon mine is part of the Burnt River Property, which includes the proposed Brule mine, also near Tumbler Ridge. A project description for Brule was submitted to government, with an environmental assessment to follow this year. If granted, the company’s PCI production could increase to an annual rate of 2 million tonnes by 2009.
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