First Nations participate as interveners in hearing for Coalspur development

Alexis Nakota Sioux, the Whitefish (Goodfish) Lake, and the Ermineskin Cree First Nations will get the opportunity to voice their concerns to the Alberta Energy Regulator on Nov. 25 over Coalspur’s plans for Vista Coal Project, Canada’s largest thermal coal mine southeast of Hinton. The hearing is expected to take one to two weeks. Coalspur had planned to begin producing coal from the mine in the first half of 2015, shipping five million tonnes per year to Asia. The new timeline, if the mine is approved, is to start production in late 2015. Coalspur plans to expand production to 12 million tonnes per year by 2019. Coalspur Mines lost almost 10 per cent of its value on double usual trading volumes after issuing a regulatory update about progress on its Vista coal project.