The Mount Michael occurrence is located approximately 5.5 kilometres north of the Line Creek Mine (MINFILE 082GNE020).

Eleven coal seams with an aggregate thickness of 39 metres occur within a 235 metre section of the Jurassic-Cretaceous Mist Mountain Formation (Kootenay Group) on the west slope of Mount Michael (in a dip slope situation). The coal, which is expected to be of medium volatile bituminous rank (middle to upper range), is interbedded with sandstone, siltstone and shale.

The Mount Michael occurrence area is affected by two main structural elements, the Fording thrust fault and the Fording syncline. The fault (north- northwest trending, west dipping), repeats the coal-bearing strata resulting in an upper and lower plate. The north trending, north plunging Fording or Alexander Creek syncline folds the strata in the upper plate (average dip 62 degrees west on the east limb). Additional thrust faults occur in both the upper and lower thrust plates.

Potential open pit reserves in the upper plate are estimated to be over 50 million tonnes (approximately 7 cubic metres bituminous per tonne) while reserves in both upper and lower plates, at 9:1 stripping ratio, are between 100 and 200 million tonnes (Coal Assessment Report 435).

In 1996, Line Creek Resources drilled 6 holes, totalling 2500 metres on Mount Michael Ridge (Coal Assessment report 860).

Expansion of the Line Creek mine, called Line Creek Phase II, will extend northward to encompass the Mount Michael and Burnt Ridge North (MINFILE 082JSE001) areas. Line Creek Phase II was granted conditional environmental assessment approval in October 2013.

Refer to Line Creek (MINFILE 082GNE020) for additional and ongoing information, including inventory and production values.