Raven Underground Coal Project

Synopsis

Compliance Energy, majority owner of the Comox Joint Venture, is proposing a new underground coal mine in the Tsable River watershed south of Courtenay on Vancouver Island. The Raven mine will produce 2.2 million tonnes of coal per year (1.5 mt of "clean coal"), or 44 million tonnes over 20 years. A project description was filed with the BC EAO in August 2009. Concerns include local habitat disruption, trucking, water, watershed and salmon, and additional global carbon emissions.

Category Mining

Type Coal

Prov BC

Region Vancouver Island

Posted 18Sep09

Updated 28Oct09

Status

Contacts

LOCAL
COMMUNITY

Comox Valley Water Watch Coalition, info(at)coalwatch.ca, www.coalwatch.ca

GOVERNMENT
AGENCIES

BC Environmental Assessment Office project site

ABORIGINAL
GROUPS

K'ómox First Nation, info(at)comoxband.ca, www.comoxband.ca, 250-339-4545

PROPONENT

Compliance Coal Corporation DBA Comox Joint Venture is 60% owned by Compliance Energy Corp., 20% each by Itochu Corporation and LG International Investments (Canada) Ltd.

Compliance Energy, John A. Tapics, President & CEO, john(at)complianceenergy.com, www.complianceenergy.com, 604-689-0489

More information

Location

The mine is estimated to produce 2.2 million tonnes of coal per year (reduced to 1.5 million tonnes of "clean coal" per year), or 44 million tonnes over the 20 year expected life of the mine.

Options for shipping the coal to Asia include truck or rail to Port Alberni; truck or rail to Buckley Bay or Campbell River, then barge to Texada Island; truck or rail to Duke Point, truck to Gold River.

The project triggers both a provincial and federal environmental review.

A project description has been filed with the BC Environmental Assessment Office (EAO) and the project is in Pre-Application status with the EAO. It will be reviewed, draft Terms of Reference (TOR) for a project review will be published, and the public will be given 30 days to comment on the draft Terms. Then the final TOR will be issued. The proponent will then take an open-ended period of time to prepare its formal application and environmental impact statement.

Two of the biggest issues with the Raven project are water and carbon:

Water - impacts on groundwater and the Tsable River drainage, water used for washing the coal, water produced in the mining operation, impacts on salmon - these are perhaps the biggest environmental impacts and concerns with the project. The project description says nothing of any substance about water - that will have to wait for the project application.

Carbon - greenhouse gas emissions when this coal is burned - this is an issue the government will eventually have to address, given how much coal BC mines and exports. So far, it has not been an issue government is willing to confront, neither with the existing mines (virtually all them owned by TeckCominco), nor with applications for new coal mines (Raven is one of a number, not unique).

There is no indication that the company will require any zoning or permits from the Comox Regional District. Many authorizations are required from the province - including a mine permit and a lease for surface lands from the Integrated Lands Management Bureau (ILMB) - and from federal agencies (section 7.2 of the pre-application)

Project home at the BC Environmental Assessment Office:
http://a100.gov.bc.ca/appsdata/epic/html/deploy/epic_project_home_351.html

Project Description
http://tinyurl.com/lqkkl7