A Chinese group is preparing to inject $1 billion into B.C. coal mining. China's Shougang Group, with Canadian Kailuan Dehau Mines Co Ltd., plans to develop three underground coal mines all close to Tumbler Ridge in B.C.'s north.
The goal is to start construction on the first mine late next year, with the companies "moving forward at a very rapid rate," said Pat Bell, B.C.'s jobs minister. "They have the fiscal resources already in place to do it," said Bell, who met with executives at Shougang and other consortium partners in Beijing on a trade mission. "It's a very big deal."
The companies are looking to produce as much as eight million tonnes a year from three mines. That figure is equal to approximately one-quarter of all of the coal production in B.C.
To develop mines to unearth that much coal would take at least $1-billion in construction costs. The mines would employ 1,200 workers and generate about 5,000 more indirect jobs, which is roughly twice the number of people in Tumbler Ridge.
China joins a crowded list of proposals for additional mines, including Teck Resources Ltd.'s plan to resurrect the Quintette mine, closed in 2000. Quintette could be once more producing three million tonnes of coal by 2013.
"It's definitely a boom time. The northeast is really going great guns right now," said Pierre Gratton, CEO of the Mining Association of BC "There's potential for a lot more."
Peter Thompson, who is a managing broker with Re/Max Tumbler Ridge Realty Ltd., noted that a 400-lot subdivision is being planned eight kilometres from town. That, he said, includes three condo buildings and retail space.
from Western Investor, May 2011
