Privately owned Pine Valley Coal will develop the Willow Creek project. Situated in the Peace River coal field of northeastern British Columbia, the project represents the first new coal mine to be developed in Canada since the early 1980s.
Willow Creek is an equal joint venture between wholly owned subsidiaries of BC Rail, Mitsui Matsushima (a major Japanese colliery) and
The 9,666-ha property is 45 km west of the town of Chetwynd and about 100 km northwest of Tumbler Ridge. The area was originally explored in the late 1940s by the government of British Columbia. Underground mining was proposed in the 1980s, but poor economics prevented the mine from being developed. In 1993, Globaltex acquired the property and proposed developing resources that were deemed minable by open-pit methods.
The 3-way joint venture was formed in 1996, since which time extensive exploration and environmental work has been performed, culminating in a project approval certificate and mine permit.
A feasibility study outlined a recoverable reserve of 15 million tonnes plus 55 million bank cubic metres of waste rock. The average raw coal stripping ratio was calculated to be 3.7-to-1.
Initial production is estimated at 600,000 tonnes per year, which will be raised to 900,000 tonnes annually over a 3-year period. Based on current reserves, the mine life is set at 14 years, and the potential for expansion is deemed excellent.
Infrastructure is extensive. The property is accessible by road as well as rail, and a power supply is nearby. The town of Chetwynd is within easy commuting distance. BC Rail owns and operates the rail system, which has a line running adjacent to the property.
Capital costs for the mine and its facilities are expected to weigh in at about $25 million, or about $28 per tonne of annual production.
Japanese coal markets are being targeted in order to secure sufficient sales to warrant mine construction. It is estimated that once the green light is flashed, the mine can be put into full production within a 15-month period.
Geologically, the coal deposits are part of the Lower Cretaceous-aged Gething Formation and are characterized by folding and faulting of moderate-to-steeply-dipping coal seams. Mining is to be carried out on eight coal seams, which vary in thickens from 1 to 7 metres and which have a total combined true thickness of about 20 metres. The upper five seams will be blended to produce a semi-hard coking product. The lower three will also be blended to produce a low-volatile product for pulverized coal injection.
Six pits will be exploited at different stages during the life of the project. The depth of these pits will vary from about 40 to 150 metres. Two pits — the North and Central — are included in the current mine plan.
Run-of-mine coal will be blended and sized in a feeder-breaker and conveyed to a screening plant. From there, fines (measuring less than 6 mm) can be diverted for cleaning, or bypass the plant and be combined directly with the cleaned coarse-circuit coal. The amount of fines diverted from the circuit will depend on the grade of coal and the clean coal ash content. Coarse coal is cleaned in a heavy media vessel where rock and other undesirable refuse are separated from the coal. Fines that are cleaned are put into a heavy media cyclone and spirals. Cleaned coal is then mechanically dewatered and combined with any fines diverted around the cleaning circuit.
In related news, Vancouver-based junior Western Canadian Coal (WCC) is planning to make a go at exploiting some of the dormant coal properties in the Peace River Coal Field. The company is currently setting up its initial public offering and hopes to bow before the public in a matter of weeks.
WCC’s flagship properties are the Belcourt and Saxon deposits.
The Belcourt deposits, which consist of Red Deer, Holtslander, Huguenot and Omega, were explored by
Resources at Belcourt total 103.2 million tonnes coal plus 485 million bank cubic metres of waste rock. The resulting average stripping ratio for raw coal is 4.7-to-1. WCC believes that by decreasing the pit size and thereby lowering the stripping ratios, it can ensure that the Red Deer and Holtslander deposits are capable of supporting a 2-to-3-million-tonne-per-year operation for 15-20 years. To exploit these deposits, the rail system will be extended south at a cost of between $120 million and $150 million.
Once infrastructure is developed at Red Deer and Holtslander, WCC intends to develop the Saxon deposits to the south, which also were previously held by Denison. Prior to 1983, about $7 million was spent exploring the Saxon deposits. Resources calculated at Saxon East stand at 26.8 million tonnes coal plus 163.5 million bank cubic metres of waste rock. This translates to a raw coal stripping ratio of 6.1-to-1. The coal from these deposits has been classified as hard coking, with low ash, sulphur and phosphorus contents.
WCC is raising funds to begin a preliminary feasibility study on the Red Deer and Holtslander deposits this year. The company hopes to advance the project through to final feasibility so that construction can begin by 2001. Full production is slated for 2003. Meanwhile, WCC is looking for joint-venture partners to advance other properties in the Peace River coal field.
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