Coal Resources and Coal Mining on Vancouver Island
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Ministry of Energy and Mines Energy and Minerals Division Geological Survey Branch COAL RESOURCES AND COAL MINING ON VANCOUVER ISLAND By S. L. Gardner, P. Geo. Gardner Exploration Consultants Campbell River, British Columbia OPEN FILE 1999-8 Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data Gardner, S. L. Coal resources and coal mining on Vancouver Island (Open File, ISSN 0835-3530 ; 1999-8) Issued by Geological Survey Branch. Includes bibliographical references: p. ISBN 0-7726-3446-7 1. Coal - Geology - British Columbia - Vancouver Island. 2. Coal reserves -- British Columbia - Vancouver Island. 3. Coal mines and mining - VICTORIA British Columbia - Vancouver Island. I. British BRITISH COLUMBIA Columbia. Ministry of Employment and Investment. CANADA II. British Columbia. Geological Survey Branch III. Series: Open File (British Columbia. Geological Survey Branch) ; 1999-8 January, 1999 TN806.C32B74 1997 553.2’4’097112 C98-960007-6 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page 1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1-1 1.1 Coal reserves and resources 1-1 1.1.1 Areas of interest for future developments 1-1 1.2 Coal quality 1-2 1.3 Mining costs 1-2 1.4 Infrastructure 1-2 1.5 Tenure and land-use issues 1-3 1.6 History of coal mining 1-3 1.7 Conclusion 1-4 2 INTRODUCTION 2-1 2.1 Purpose of study 2-1 2.2 Overview 2-1 2.3 Acknowledgements 2-1 3 GEOGRAPHY AND HISTORY OF MINING, VANCOUVER ISLAND 3-1 3.1 General description 3-1 3.1.1 Land mass 3-1 3.1.2 Climate and topography 3-1 3.1.3 Population growth and demographics 3-2 3.2 History of coal mining on Vancouver Island 3-3 3.2.1 The Hudson’s Bay Company 3-3 3.2.2 Wellington Colliery 3-3 3.2.3 The Comox mines 3-4 3.2.3.1 Comox No. 4 mine 3-5 3.2.3.2 Comox No. 5 mine 3-6 3.2.3.3 Comox No. 8 mine 3-6 3.2.3.4 Tsable River mine 3-6 3.2.3.5 Coal beneficiation 3-8 3.2.4 The decades of peak production, 1910-1930 3-8 3.2.5 The declining years of production 3-8 3.2.6 The rebirth of coal exploration and development, 1973 to the present 3-10 3.2.7 The current situation 3-12 4 GEOLOGY OF VANCOUVER ISLAND COALFIELDS 4-1 4.1 General description 4-1 4.1.1 Stratigraphic setting 4-1 4.1.2 Structure 4-3 4.1.3 General coal distribution 4-3 4.1.4 Coal quality 4-4 4.2 Suquash basin and outliers 4-6 4.2.1 Stratigraphic units, general geology, structure and surficial geology 4-6 4.2.2 Distribution of coal-bearing rocks 4-7 4.2.3 Past coal mining and known coal deposits 4-7 4.2.3.1 Suquash 4-7 4.2.3.2 Coal Harbour and vicinity 4-7 4.2.3.3 Holberg Inlet 4-8 4.2.4 Recent exploration activities 4-10 4.2.4.1 Suquash 4-10 4.2.4.2 Coal Harbour and vicinity 4-10 4.2.5 Potential coal resources 4-11 4.2.5.1 Suquash 4-11 4.2.5.2 Coal Harbour and vicinity 4-11 4.2.5.3 Winter Harbour and vicinity 4-11 Open File 1999-8 i Page 4.2.6 Coal quality 4-11 4.3 Comox basin 4-13 4.3.1 Stratigraphic units and general geology 4-13 4.3.2 Distribution of coal-bearing sediments 4-14 4.3.3 Coal quality 4-15 4.3.4 Coal rights ownership 4-15 4.3.5 Previous exploration work 4-16 4.3.5.1 Weldwood of Canada Limited 4-16 4.3.5.2 Luscar Ltd. (Quinsam Joint Venture) 4-17 4.3.5.3 Brinco Mining and Hillsborough Resources Ltd. 4-17 4.3.5.4 Canadian Occidental Petroleum Ltd. 4-18 4.3.5.5 Ramm Ventures Corporation 4-18 4.3.5.6 Nuspar Resources Ltd. 4-18 4.3.5.7 Shanoro Development 4-19 4.3.6 Known coal deposits 4-19 4.3.6.1 Middle Quinsam deposit 4-19 4.3.6.2 Lower Quinsam deposit 4-22 4.3.6.3 Chute Creek deposit 4-23 4.3.6.4 Hamilton Lake deposit 4-23 4.3.6.5 Tsable River deposit 4-24 4.3.7 Areas of potential coal resources 4-24 4.3.7.1 Tsolum River area 4-24 4.3.7.2 Anderson-Dove area 4-25 4.3.7.3 Cumberland area 4-26 4.3.7.4 Allen Lake area 4-27 4.3.7.5 Tsable River area 4-28 4.3.7.6 Alberni Valley 4-29 4.3.8 Summary of coal reserves and resources in the Comox basin 4-30 4.4 Nanaimo basin 4-31 4.4.1 Stratigraphic units and general geology 4-31 4.4.2 Distribution of coal-bearing rocks 4-32 4.4.3 Nanaimo coal mines 4-32 4.4.3.1 Douglas seam 4-32 4.4.3.2 Wellington seam 4-34 4.4.4 Recent exploration 4-34 4.4.4.1 Netherlands Pacific Mining Ltd. 4-34 4.4.4.2 Gulf Canada Resources Ltd. 4-35 4.4.4.3 Esso Resources Ltd. 4-35 4.4.4.4 Mayo Holdings Ltd. 4-35 4.4.4.5 Westmin Resources Limited 4-35 4.4.5 Known and potential coal deposits 4-35 4.4.5.1 North Nanaimo 4-36 4.4.5.2 South Nanaimo 4-37 4.5 Cowichan basin and the Gulf Islands 4-38 4.5.1 Cowichan basin 4-38 4.5.2 Gulf Islands area 4-38 5 OPERATING COAL MINES AND EXISTING INFRASTRUCTURE 5-1 5.1 Introduction 5-1 5.2 Quinsam coal mine 5-1 5.2.1 Surface mines 5-1 5.2.2 Underground mines 5-1 5.2.2.1 2-North mine 5-2 5.2.2.2 2-South mine 5-2 5.2.3 Coal preparation plant 5-2 5.2.4 Current and projected production levels 5-2 Open File 1999-8 ii Page 5.2.5 Existing transportation infrastructure 5-2 5.2.5.1 Transportation infrastructure upgrading 5-3 5.3 Existing road infrastructure 5-3 5.4 Coal-handling facilities 5-3 5.4.1 Barge-loading facilities 5-4 5.4.2 Ship-loading facilities 5-4 5.4.2.1 Texada Island 5-4 5.4.2.2 Roberts Bank 5-5 6 VANCOUVER ISLAND LAND-USE CLASSIFICATIONS 6-1 6.1 Coal rights tenure holders 6-1 6.2 Surface rights tenure holders 6-1 6.3 Aboriginal issues 6-1 6.3.1 The Province’s legal obligations 6-2 6.3.1.1 Provincial government guidelines 6-2 6.3.1.2 Implications for the mining industry 6-2 6.3.2 Treaties and treaty negotiations in B.C. 6-3 6.3.2.1 Interim measures 6-3 6.3.2.2 Implications for the mining industry 6-3 6.4 The land-use classification system 6-4 6.4.1 Protected areas 6-4 6.4.2 Forest Land Reserves 6-4 6.4.3 Agricultural Land Reserves 6-5 6.4.4 Settlement lands 6-5 6.5 Mining within the Agricultural Land Reserves 6-5 6.6 Public concerns related to coal developments 6-5 7 OUTLOOK FOR COAL MINING DEVELOPMENTS ON VANCOUVER ISLAND 7-1 7.1 Introduction 7-1 7.2 Production cost and revenue structure 7-1 7.3 Comox basin 7-2 7.4 Nanaimo basin 7-3 7.5 The North Island 7-3 8 CONCLUSIONS 8-1 8.1 Future mining possibilities 8-1 8.2 Coal quality 8-3 8.3 Economic considerations 8-3 8.4 Tenure 8-3 8.5 Land-use considerations 8-3 9 REFERENCES 9-1 TABLES 1-1 Vancouver Island coal reserves 1-1 1-2 Product coal quality, selected mines, Nanaimo and Comox basins 1-2 3-2-1 Depth of shafts and seams worked in the Comox mines 3-4 3-2-2 Tonnage mined in the Comox mines prior to 1938 3-5 3-2-3 Typical seam sections in Tsable River mine 3-7 3-2-4 Vancouver Island coal mine disasters 3-9 4-1-1 Area of Nanaimo Group and younger sediments 4-1 4-1-2 Stratigraphic comparison of Comox and Nanaimo basins 4-2 Open File 1999-8 iii Page 4-1-3 Revised stratigraphic nomenclature of the Nanaimo Group at Nanaimo 4-2 4-1-4 Correlation of Comox coals in the Comox basin 4-4 4-1-5 Common size specifications and washery yields, Nanaimo mines 4-5 4-1-6 Product coal quality, selected mines, Nanaimo and Comox basins 4-5 4-2-1 Suquash outcrop coal quality 4-11 4-2-2 Suquash mine coal quality 4-12 4-3-1 Coal land holdings in Comox basin as of 1985 4-15 4-3-2 Coal reserve classification system 4-19 4-3-3 Mineable coal reserves, Middle Quinsam mining block 4-20 4-3-4 Chute Creek coal quality 4-23 4-3-5 Predictions of coal waste dump quantities in Comox basin 4-27 4-3-6 Major coal unit intersections in Tsable River South 4-28 4-3-7 Major coal unit intersections in Tsable River North 4-29 4-3-8 Coal reserves and resources in the Comox basin 4-30 4-4-1 Revised stratigraphic nomenclature of the Nanaimo Group at Nanaimo 4-31 4-4-2 Coal reserves and resources in the Nanaimo basin 4-36 7-1-1 Coal export price, Asia (US$ per tonne, FOBT) 7-1 8-1-1 Vancouver Island coal reserves 8-1 8-1-2 Coal reserves and resources in the Comox basin 8-1 8-1-3 Coal reserves and resources in the Nanaimo basin 8-2 FIGURES 1-1 Vancouver Island coalfields, location of study In pocket at back 3-1 Climatic zones of southwestern British Columbia In pocket at back 4-1 Areas of Cretaceous sediments, northern Vancouver Island In pocket 4-2 Potential coal-bearing sedimentary deposits, Suquash basin and outliers In pocket 4-3 Comox coal basin, coal-rights ownership (to July 1995) In pocket 4-4A Comox coal basin, geology and location of potential coal reserves, 49°45' south to 49°25' In pocket 4-4B Comox coal basin, geology and potential reserves, 49°45' north to Campbell River In pocket 4-5 Nanaimo coal basin, major geological features and approximate boundary of mined-out areas In pocket 4-6 Plan showing underground workings and potential coal resources, South Nanaimo area In pocket 4-7 Cowichan basin and Gulf Islands, general geology and location of coal occurrencesIn pocket 5-1 Quinsam mine, general location and route map In pocket 5-2 Marine coal handling facilities, Vancouver Island coal fields In pocket at back 6-1 Vancouver Island land use plan In pocket at back Open File 1999-8 iv 1.