Cape Breton mine bucks trend
Canadian coal production hits three-decade low in 2016 as demand wanes
A newly opened Cape Breton coal mine is bucking the trend as Canadian coal production dropped to a three-decade low last year as demand waned, the National Energy Board says.
The Cline Group restarted thermal coal production at the Donkin mine in late February — the first time an underground coalmine in Cape Breton has been in operation in more than 15 years.
There are 64 people employed at the Donkin mine. An estimated 135 are expected to be working at the mine at some point in the future with some hires this year, and some next year and into 2019.
The amount of coal brought to the surface for sale will depend on market demand, according to senior Donkin mine official Jim Bunn in an interview shortly after production began at the mine.
He wouldn’t outline how much coal would be brought up to the surface each day.
On a national scale, production came in at 60.4 million tonnes, a 12 per cent decline since 2013, and well off the peak of about 79 million tonnes reached in 1997, the NEB said Wednesday.
About half of Canadian production is thermal coal used in power generation, which is expected to see a steady decline as the country moves to largely phase out coal-fired power plants by 2030.
The NEB expects that by 2040 coal production will drop to 34 million tonnes, with almost all remaining production focused on higher-quality metallurgical coal used to
make steel.
Ottawa is working to phase out coal-fired power plants as part of its plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The
federal government is looking to have 90 per cent of Canada’s electricity comes from nonemitting sources by 2030.
Ontario was one of the first jurisdictions in North America to eliminate coal as a source of electricity generation when it phased it out in 2014.
Alberta has also announced plans to gradually phase out its coal-fired power plants.
On Tuesday, U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order reversing many of former president Barack Obama’s climate change policies, including emissions limits on coal-fired power plants, in an effort to boost the U.S. coal industry.
Teck Resources Ltd. (TSX:TECK.B) said Wednesday that winter weather, transportation issues and lower sales affected coal production in January and February, but that it still expects to produce 27 to 28 million tonnes of metallurgical coal this year to make up the bulk of Canadian production.