Two Mines Up For Public Comment
Tuesday, April 2, 2013 @ 3:51 AM
Prince George, B.C.- There is a request for public comments on two proposed mine projects in B.C.
The Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency is considering a request from the B.C. Government that it be allowed to conduct the environmental assessment on the proposed Echo Hill Coal Mine Project. That proposal is for a coal mine that would produce between 1 and 1.5 million tonnes of coal each year of the 10-14 year lifespan of the mine. The proposed project is about 44 km north of Tumbler Ridge.
The CEAA says, if granted, there would be several conditions attached to B.C’s request, including:
· the public will be given an opportunity to participate in the environmental assessment;
· the public will have access to records in relation to the environmental assessment to enable their meaningful participation;
· at the end of the environmental assessment, a report will be submitted to the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency;
· the report will be made available to the public
In addition, the experts from Federal departments would have to be involved, the assessment would have to be completed within the one year time frame, plus, the Province will have to make funds from the CEAA available to Aboriginal groups for consultation.
More information can be accessed here.
The other project is the proposed Brucejack Gold Mine. Located about 65 kilometers northwest of Stewart, this mine would produce about 2,700 tonnes of ore per day over the course of the mine’s 16 year lifespan.
In this case, the CEAA is asking for the public’s comments on which aspects of the environment could be impacted by the project, and what should be examined during the environmental assessment. You can find more information on this project by clicking here.
Comments
Interesting that they would close the coal mine in Chetwyn BC (250 people laid off) and start another around Tumbler Ridge.
Must be all about the extraction and shipping costs.
It helps when you have the Mayor of Tumbler Ridge, Darwin Wren as a big supporter of mining, at any cost. He was in favor of HD Mining bringing in temporary foreign workers and now he wants to be the NDP MLA for Peace River South….good luck with that I say!
I would like to see mining opened up around williston lake as there is a huge proven reserve of both coal and natural gas on the east side of williston lake however the big negative to it is a lot of the areas are virtually inaccessable unless you tunnel or spend countless dollars building roads to those areas and as we know both the indians and environmentalists would be dead set against either scenario
Dearth, I don’t know of any indians on WIlliston Resevoir. I know there are First Nations there.
I also know that there is mining going on and will be going on with the Tsay Keh Dene people in conjunction with Taseko mines. TKDB is working with industry to grant them access to the territory and get a little payoff, so they aren’t a drain on taxpayers and eventually become a self-sufficient nation.
I know past behaviours are often an indicator of future behaviour, but there is room for change.
OMG PC BS.
The two mines that you refer to are two different companies Palupo so it would not have been a matter of closing one in order to open the other. However the one that closed was owned by Walter Energy out of the US and in the release they did say that high extraction costs was the reason for shutting it down. On the bright side, the Echo Hill project that is under review per the story above is a BC based company.
“Must be all about the extraction and shipping costs. “
Not really just shipping/extraction costs… you have two different types of coal. Thermal and Metallurigical which have two different end uses. Met coal is in surplus right now and follows the steel market cycle and thermal coal is fairly stable becuase of its use for electrical generation. Not too sure which mines in the reigon produce each type of coal but that would possibly explain why one is shutting down and one isnt.
Actually the CEO of Walter Energy stated the price dropped for their product. Therefore they are curtailing production.
Extraction and shipping costs were just fine until the price dropped. But saying that is the reason for shutting down is not correct.
from the report:
“According to an article from CNBC, the mine is expensive to operate with a cost of $150 per tonne compared to other mines in the region where costs are $130 and $120 a tonne”
That would be a high extraction cost to me – although if the selling price is high enough it is all a moot point lol
From Opinion 250,
“Walter Energy is closing its Willow Creek coal mine near Chetwynd. Walter Scheller, CEO of the company says the facility is being closed down because the price for met coal dictated that the company curtail production at the mine.”
Shame on the BC liberals for surrendering and watering down our provincial sovereignty. BC should be conducting its own environmental assessments as the environment is an area of provincial responsibility.
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