What is the Grassy Mountain coal project?
Benga Mining Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Riversdale Resources Limited, is proposing to construct and operate an open-pit metallurgical coal mine near the Crowsnest Pass, approximately seven kilometres north of the community of Blairmore, in southwest Alberta.
Where is the Grassy Mountain coal project?
Crowsnest Pass
The open-pit mine is projected to produce 93 million tons during its 25-year lifespan. It would be located on 6,918 acres about seven kilometres north of Blairmore in Crowsnest Pass, Alberta.
Is the Grassy Mountain coal project in the public interest?
Grassy Mountain coal project ‘not in the public interest,’ Alberta review panel says. A review panel for the Alberta Energy Regulator has denied the provincial application for the Grassy Mountain coal project, ruling that the project is “not in the public interest.”
Can you find coal in mountains?
Coal seams are extracted from a mountain by removing the land, or overburden, above the seams. This process is considered to be safer compared to underground mining because the coal seams are accessed from above instead of underground.
Who owns Grassy Mountain coal?
The Grassy Mountain property also witnessed significant surface and underground coal mining in the past. The company acquired the property from a 50:50 joint venture of Devon Canada and Consol Energy, in 2013.
Why is coal found in mountains?
The sustained geologic pressure and heat involved in creating the mountains baked and compressed the peat from those old bogs into seams of coal from a few inches to several feet thick.
How does mountaintop mining work?
Coal companies first raze an entire mountainside, ripping trees from the ground and clearing brush with huge tractors. This debris is then set ablaze as deep holes are dug for explosives. An explosive is poured into these holes and mountaintops are literally blown apart.
Does coal make diamonds?
In addition to the carbon, intense heat and pressure come together under the surface of the earth’s mantle to create natural diamonds. While coal is also made of carbon, it contains lots of other impurities that make it impossible from diamonds to form out of coal.
How is coal made?
Coal is formed when dead plant matter submerged in swamp environments is subjected to the geological forces of heat and pressure over hundreds of millions of years. Over time, the plant matter transforms from moist, low-carbon peat, to coal, an energy- and carbon-dense black or brownish-black sedimentary rock.
Why is mountaintop mining used?
Mountaintop mining is a practice where the tops of mountains are removed, allowing for almost complete recovery of coal seams while reducing the number of workers required to a fraction of what conventional methods require.
How is coal extracted from mountaintop removal mining?
In mountaintop removal, entire coal seams running through the upper portion of a mountain are mined by removing all of the overburden (rock or soil overlying a mineral deposit), creating a level plateau or gently rolling contour. This type of mining is sometimes considered a variation of contour mining.
What is the Grassy Mountain Coal Project?
Grassy Mountain Coal Project Benga Mining Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Riversdale Resources Limited, is proposing to construct and operate an open-pit metallurgical coal mine near the Crowsnest Pass, approximately seven kilometres north of the community of Blairmore, in southwest Alberta.
What is the production capacity of the proposed coal mine?
As proposed, the production capacity of the project would be a maximum of 4.5 million tonnes of processed coal per year, over a mine-life of about 25 years. This map is for illustrative purposes. The markers represent the approximate locations based on available data.
How long does it take to build a coal mine in Alberta?
The open-pit mine is projected to produce 93 million tons during its 25-year lifespan. It would be located on 6,918 acres about seven kilometres north of Blairmore in Crowsnest Pass, Alberta. The new mine would be located on a legacy coal-mining area. It is projected the facility would take 21 months to construct.