The Crowsnest Pass has a rich history in the coal-mining industry. While there hasn’t been a working coal mine in southern Alberta for decades, an Australian company, Riversdale Resources, hopes to revive that.
Riversdale Resources has acquired property at Grassy Mountain and plans to build an open-pit mine producing two to four million tonnes of high-quality coking coal per year over 28 years. The company plans to export it to the Asian steel-making industry.
Managing director Steve Mallyon said there isn’t a lot of new coal supply coming online, and they found the quality of the coal in the Crowsnest Pass region is suitable for high-quality steel-making.
“Grassy itself has very good-quality coking coal, a significant reserve there we inherited plus we added to. We have rail and infrastructure on the doorstep, but also being a town that services the coal industry already, there are a lot of people in that area that have a connection to the coal industry.”
The first coal mine in the Crowsnest Pass opened in 1900, and many of the surrounding communities were mining towns. Mallyon said there are many benefits in coming to a community rich with mining experience. Many who live in the area work across the border at Teck in Sparwood, B.C.
“When we do our community meetings, the questions that come back are highly-technical in nature and based on people’s knowledge of the industry,” said Mallyon. “People ask us about how we’re going to handle dust, logistics and the market, where the product is going. To us, it’s a big plus because you’re always going to get some negativity around a major mine development, but here we’ve got people who are very well-informed. All of those factors combined tell us Grassy was a superb opportunity.”
The addition of the new mine would create hundreds to thousands of jobs, Mallyon said, and change the demographic in the area.
“It’s an aging population down there,” he said. “I think there is an opportunity with a new mine to get a younger population in there, building houses, supporting local communities and services. That is the positive spin of building something like Grassy Mountain.”
Crowsnest Pass mayor Blair Painter believes the community sees the Riversdale development as an opportunity for substantial growth.
“They are anticipating 200-300 jobs that will be available in the mine itself, plus all the other sub-industries that will support the mine,” said Painter. “I can see an impact reaching all the way from the Elk Valley through to Lethbridge.”
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