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Coal company proposes new mine

A coal mining company is proposing to drill 11 test holes near Fernie this summer.

A coal mining company is proposing to drill 11 test holes near Fernie this summer.

The Crowsnest Pass Coal Mining Company (CPCM) has submitted a Mineral and Coal Exploration Notice of Work and Reclamation Application to what was the Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources.

The application was submitted on February 15 of this year and the company is expecting to hear back from the provincial government on Friday.

A staff report from the department of planning was presented to Fernie City council at the end of March regarding the provincial application.

The report recommended that council inform the Ministry that the City has drilled one deep aquifer well in James White Park for municipal water and that it intends to drill two more in the future.

The City wants to ensure that the proposed mining activities outlined in the application from CPCM won’t impact the water quality of the aquifer used by the City’s wells.

The City requested that they be kept updated throughout the project. If the Ministry indicates that the aquifers will be unaffected by the application then the proposal said that the interests of the City of Fernie would be unaffected by the coal exploration.

The proposed mining activities would start in the spring or early summer of this year and would finish in the fall.

The project is located approximately 10 km east of Fernie near the junction of Matheson Creek and Coal Creek Road.

The exploration will consist of 11 drill holes with an average depth of 200 metres.

Rio Tinto sold rights to the land to GRM Resources, a Singapore-based resources company in July 2010.

Metallurgical coal is needed for the company’s coking coal plant in India.

CPCM was set up by GRM for the Elk Valley project.