The British Columbia Environmental Assessment Office on Nov 18 agreed to extend by five years, to November 2018, the life of a certificate for the Hermann strip coal mine project first approved in 2008 for Western Canadian Coal, which is now part of U.S.-based Walter Energy.
The office also approved Amendment #2 to the Environmental Assessment Certificate for the Hermann Mine Project, which mostly had to do with caribou management.
Western Canadian Coal proposed an open pit coal mine with an estimated production capacity of 1 million tonnes per year with an estimated mine life of 5 to 7 years. It would be located about 16 kilometers south of Tumbler Ridge.
Walter Energy’s Canadian operations currently consist of three surface metallurgical coal mines in northeast British Columbia: Brule, Willow Creek and Wolverine. Within British Columbia, the company’s website said it holds the right to two large multi-deposit coal property groups: the Wolverine group, including the Perry Creek, EB and Hermann deposits; and the Brazion group, including the Brule Mine, the Willow Creek Mine and less explored portions of these and adjacent properties.
