Peace River Coal
Peace River Coal (PRC) is a Limited Partnership wholly owned by Anglo American plc. In addition to holding significant coal resources in western Canada, PRC conducts mining operations in the Tumbler Ridge area, located in the Peace River region in northeast British Columbia. PRC expects to produce 0.8 million tonnes of hard coking coal in 2009.
Peace River Coal History
The Peace River coalfield, which extends for 400 km through the northeast part of British Columbia, was first discovered in 1793. Due to lack of infrastructure, mining in the early days was limited to small operations serving local needs. The expansion of steel production in the mid-1960's, led by the Japanese steel mills, stimulated exploration for metallurgical (coking) coal on a global scale. Within ten years the majority of the land within the Peace River coalfield with coal mining potential had been acquired and explored by various mining and oil companies.
Coal licenses stretched almost unbroken for a distance of over 300 km, from the Alberta border in the southeast to north of the town of Hudson's Hope. The Quintette property was, for a long time, the largest property in this region. It hosted significant coal resources, including the Roman Mountain deposit and the Quintette-Trend area, now containing the Trend Mine.
Peace River Coal Operations
Trend Mine
The Trend Mine is located approximately 25 km south of Tumbler Ridge. Mining began at Trend in December 2005. The mine is permitted to produce up to 2 million tonnes of coal per year, for approximately ten years.
Peace River Coal Projects
Belcourt-Saxon Coal Limited Partnership
The Belcourt and Saxon properties are located approximately 85 km southeast of Tumbler Ridge extending a further 80km to the Alberta border. Peace River Coal has a 50% interest in the partnership with Walter Energy Western Coal Corp. with the objective to further explore and develop both Belcourt and Saxon coal properties. Extensive additional exploration has been conducted on the properties, and a technical report on the Belcourt properties has been produced.
Roman Mountain
The Roman Mountain project, located immediately south of the current Trend Mine, envisages an open pit mine producing up to 3 million tons of coal per annum with a life expectancy of about 10 years. The Trend and Roman mining operations will be integrated and utilize as much of the existing infrastructure as possible. Additional plant capacity and mining equipment will be required in order to achieve full production. A prefeasibility study will be completed in 2010; the Environmental Assessment report will be submitted in early 2010. Mining is envisaged to commence in 2013, with full production being achieved later in that year.
Further northwestward extensions to the Roman Mountain resource are currently being investigated.
Horizon
The Horizon project is located 10 km west of Trend Mine and is expected to produce up to two million clean tonnes of coal per annum, the majority of which is from an underground mine with a life expectancy of approximately 15 years.
About Tumbler Ridge
Tumbler Ridge was established in the early 1980s to service the Quintette and Bullmoose Mines, which were anticipated to provide 100 million tons of metallurgical coal to Japan in its first 15 years. The town is located in the northeast corner of British Columbia, on the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains, approximately 100 km south of Chetwynd. Tumbler Ridge has a population of approximately 3,300 people and sits on the edge of a vast, little-explored wilderness. Isolated, yet still accessible, the pristine mountain ridges and valleys around the town abound with rich natural resources and wildlife.