The Calgary, Alberta, Canada-based company was established in 2003 after an amalgamation of Canada’s senior metallurgical coal producers.

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Now that it’s the second-largest metallurgical hard coking coal producer in the world, Elk Valley Coal Corp. says it’s time to focus on a fresh strategy. With new President Boyd Payne at the helm, the company wants to concentrate its efforts on producing consistent and high-quality coking coal products as a way to maximize value. “We want our customers to know that every time they get a cargo of coal from Elk Valley Coal, it’s going to be what they expect,” says Bill Fleming, senior vice president of operations.

“We’re doing a lot of research on the quality aspects of our coal to produce products that will meet our customers’ requirements.

“The world is a highly competitive place where constant change for improvement is the order of the day,” he adds. “If a company chooses to stand still, it will fall behind quickly. That doesn’t mean everything new you try is going to work, but if you don’t try new approaches, you won’t improve.”

The Calgary, Alberta, Canada-based company was established in 2003 after an amalgamation of Canada’s senior metallurgical coal producers. Six mines previously owned by Fording Inc., Teck Cominco, Luscar Ltd. and CONSOL were acquired by Elk Valley. They include the Fording River, Greenhills, Line Creek, Elkview and Coal Mountain mines located in British Columbia, Canada, as well as the Cardinal River mine in Alberta, Canada.

The Mines
Fording River is the company’s largest mine, with the highest production capacity. It is the company’s only mine to operate 320-ton trucks, whereas the other five use 240-ton trucks. Elkview is its second-largest mine, and is located near Sparwood, British Columbia. The nearby community has provoked the Elk Valley to implement new blasting procedures to further reduce vibrations and noise.

“One of our more recent developments is an electronic ignitions system, which allows us to eliminate the use of explosive connecting lines on the surface,” Fleming says. “Because it’s all line hard rock, we typically drill holes 13 inches in diameter and 50 feet deep in a 30-foot-by-30-foot pattern. We then put thousands of pounds of explosives into these holes. On surface, the explosive connecting lines look like heavy strings that connect all the holes to enable detonation of the pattern.

“The explosive strings on the surface make a lot of noise during the detonation process, so we replaced them with electric wires that make no noise at all. With the electronic ignition system, we can detonate each blast hole at different times with much greater precision than provided by the explosive connecting lines. The increased control of timing enables us to better minimize vibrations.”

Greenhills is the company’s third-largest mine, and the largest non-unionized mine in British Columbia, Fleming says. “It is adjacent to the Fording River mine, which allows for additional synergies such as the sharing of some equipment between operations,” he adds.

According to Elk Valley, Coal Mountain has lower-quality coal reserves. This requires a smaller, more productive work force that can handle the challenges of producing less-valuable coal products, Fleming says. Similarly, Line Creek is the company’s mine with the least proven reserves at this time. “The current challenge is to do more exploration and identify additional reserves to extend and sustain the life of the operation,” he notes.

The company has high hopes that it will find ways to prolong the life of Line Creek, Fleming says, because its Cardinal River mine faced a similar fate in 2003 when the existing mine ran out of reserves. New life was created with the development of the Cheviot pit mining area, which is approximately 20 kilometers away from the previous mine site. “There have been some challenges moving the coal such a long distance,” he notes. “For example, fuel costs have increased dramatically in the last four years.”

‘Doing Things Right’
Fleming says Elk Valley will continue with its commitment to “safety first,” which is the company’s slogan. “It’s not a choice between safety and productivity,” he asserts. “We do it safely and then we think of ways to do it productively. It’s not the way you work; it’s the way you think. When we compare ourselves to other mines in British Columbia, our safety record is consistently better than average in our industry.

“If you go back to 2002, before the merger, we had a collective frequency of around 1.5 injuries per 200,000 hours. This year, we’re running at about 0.65. There has been a very strong dedication to safety since the merger, and it shows.”

The company is also looking at ways to minimize its environmental footprint in all aspects of its operations, Fleming says. This includes recycling scrap metal, paper and batteries, as well as reclaiming land and restoring it to a similar state it was in before the mine began operating. “So, for example, reclaimed land must sustain existing wildlife populations in a post-mining world,” he notes. “As part of our ongoing monitoring programs, we conduct annual animal counts at our mining properties. Over time, the counts have continued to increase.

“Mining today is a heavily regulated industry, and we need to meet the highest standards of care in terms of our safety and environmental performances,” Fleming continues. “Our business must meet public expectations, and the public regularly provides us with feedback on our development plans through formal and informal consultation processes. Elk Valley Coal is always conscious of the importance of maintaining our social license to operate. [This will] enable us to achieve future success in our business.”