Tyler Waugh Thu, Dec 02, 2010 Members of the public poured into an open house by the hundreds to learn more about a pending coal mine southeast of Hinton limits. Coalspur held the open house sessions Nov. 30 and Dec. 1 to gather input and answer questions from residents and businesses. A multitude of flip chart pages were filled with queries and comments as around a dozen Coalspur executive and staff were on hand to deal with as many items as possible. I think we would have had even more people, but weve had an office open here in Hinton for almost a year now and weve already seen a lot of people come through the door, said Denis Lehoux, vice president of operations for Coalspur. Because its so close to town and the potential scale of this operation were not surprised that a lot of people are naturally curious. Coalspur has vast lease holdings all along the Town of Hintons southern border, but the public meeting was to specifically share information related to Phase I of its Vista Coal Project. That phase centres directly around a lease acquired earlier in 2010. With that lease was an environmental impact assessment and an existing mine permit issued in 1983. That permit, if reaffirmed by the provincial government, would allow for harvesting of up to 4.2 million tonnes per year on the lease, with a processing plant that sits around 12-14 kilometres away from Hinton limits. Eventually the company would look for approval for further excavation branching out from that initial mine permit and stretching out somewhat closer to Hinton. Ultimately, the company is forecasting a harvest of up to eight or nine million tonnes per year for around 30 years, if approvals are granted, with creation of around 500 jobs at capacity. The general public had a number of concerns, not the least of which was noise and air pollution that could be created by blasting and ongoing mine operation. Other concerns were with water quality and specifically potential selenium contamination. Some people were more concerned about infringement on the Big Horn Trail and the Cache Percotte Forest. Lehoux pointed to a map and indicated that, while Coalspur does have lease holdings in those areas, the Vista Coal Project does not directly infringe on either one of them. Coalspur will take the feedback and questions gathered at the two sessions and process the information as part of an ongoing public consultation that will run parallel to discussions with various aboriginal groups. Ongoing projects will include applications to the government for decisions on the regulatory process and the transfer of the mine permit and plant approval. Well also need to do work to update the environmental impact assessment. A lot has changed in 27 years and that needs to be revisited, Lehoux said. Coalspur will also work to complete its prefeasibility study for the larger Vista Coal project beyond Phase 1. If everything goes according to the preliminary project schedule Coalspur has put forward, the company would look for a regulatory review between June 2011 and June 2012, with a potential decision by July 2012 so that mine construction could begin at that time. Coalspur has a tentative timeline of shipping coal as early as January 2014.
(20min delay)