The Parcel 82 Flathead Ridge occurrence is located approximately 20 kilometres southeast of the town of Fernie, British Columbia. Parcel 82 Flathead Ridge is separate and distinct from MINFILE 082GSE029, also called Flathead Ridge. The Parcel 82 block also includes MINFILE 082GNE043 Parcel 82 Mount Taylor.
Parcel 82 comprises an area of 18,211.5 hectares, extending approximately 28 kilometres in a southwest to northeast direction, and is 8 kilometres across at its widest point. Parcel 82 straddles an area between the Elk River and Lodgepole Creek valleys in the southwest and the Michel Creek valley in the northeast, and is cut by the valley of Leach Creek and Flathead River. It is partly bounded by Morrissey Creek on the southwest.
As part of the Crowsnest Pass Agreement, in 1905 the Canadian Pacific Railway transferred ownership of two freehold coal land parcels (Parcels 73 and 82, together comprising the Dominion Coal Block) to the Government of Canada. Exploration and development of these parcels has been prevented due to federal-provincial jurisdictional issues. In August 2013 the Government of Canada announced that it is considering an open competitive sale, which would open the Dominion Coal Block for development. Portions of Parcel 82 that overlap with the Flathead Watershed Conservation area would not be included in the sale.
The Crowsnest coalfield, formed by the Fernie basin, is a complex synclinorium in the Lewis thrust sheet. The major compressional features of the basin are a series of synclines, the most notable being the McEvoy syncline. Parcel 82 Flathead Ridge lies near the south end of the Fernie basin on the west limb of the McEvoy syncline, which plunges northward in this general area. Coal-bearing Mist Mountain Formation of the Jurassic-Cretaceous Kootenay Group crops out in the southwestern edge of Parcel 82 on Flathead Ridge. A regional decollement within the Mist Mountain Formation effectively divided the area of coal exposure on Flathead Ridge into two domains. The decollement has been referred to as the Flathead Ridge Normal Fault and as the Morrissey retro-thrust. Strata below are affected by tight, low amplitude folds of relatively shorts wavelengths, cut by numerous thrust faults. The upper part of the Mist Mountain Formation (above the decollement), which includes the important A and B coal seams, is monoclonal at Flathead Ridge. On the southwest face of the ridge the average bedding orientation is 040 degrees/20 degrees (dip direction/dip). In the area behind (northeast of) the ridgeline, the dip flattens to 10 degrees. Minor structures include predominantly small-scale, low displacement northeast-dipping thrust and normal faults.
The Mist Mountain formation on Flathead Ridge is approximately 400 metres thick, and on average contains 10 coal seams. During initial exploration, seams were named upward from K1, K2, K3 etc., but seams in the upper part of the section were later renamed A, B, C, and D, leaving K designations in the lower part of the section only. Both the A and B seams are characterized by rapid thickness changes and variations in the number and thickness of partings (Paper 1989-4). The upper seam, or B seam, is consistently between 2.5 and 4.0 metres in thickness. The A seam varies in thickness from 3.0 to 10.0 metres. Coal in these two main seams range from high to medium volatile bituminous in rank, and are interbedded with mudstone, shale, siltstone and sandstone. Seams lower in the section are of lower quality.
Coal licenses were granted in the Dominion Coal Block beginning in 1964 and were later revoked in 1972 at the request of the Government of Canada. Licenses at Parcel 82 Flathead Ridge during this time were held by Pacific Coal Ltd. and the area was referred to as the Fernie Coal Mine. Exploration in 1964 focussed on the Morrissey Valley, and work included 10 diamond drill holes. Two additional holes were completed in 1965. Nitetsu Mining Consultants Co. Ltd. continued exploring the property in 1965, with surface mapping along Flathead Ridge and adits driven for bulk samples in two of the lower seams along Morrissey Creek. Exploration in 1966 and 1967 focused on defining the A and B coal seams on Flathead Ridge, with 7 drillholes, 9 adits, mapping, trenching, road construction, and core and bulk sampling completed. A feasibility study was conducted in 1968, after which Nitetsu Mining Consultants Co. Ltd. withdrew from the project. Mitsui Mining Co. Ltd. conducted a geological survey of the property in 1969 however no further exploration has been completed (Paper 1989-4).
Total inferred coal reserves are estimated to be 179,325,506 tonnes, or 95,644,624 tonnes and 83,680,882 tonnes for the A and B seams respectively. Analyses of the B seam and A seam show ash, volatile matter, fixed carbon and sulphur values ranging from about 6.0 to 21.76 per cent and 4.3 to 6.8 per cent (ash), 17.44 to 24.2 per cent and 17.2 to 21.8 per cent (volatile matter), 60.4 to 75.7 per cent and 71.3 to 76.7 per cent (fixed carbon) and 0.39 to 0.60 per cent and 0.27 per cent to 0.50 per cent (sulphur), respectively.
Computer modelling of the potential resource at Parcel 82 Flathead Ridge was published by the BC Geological Survey in 1989, which calculated that the A and B coal seams (plus associated riders) contain in situ coal totalling 230 million tonnes, of which 17.5 million tonnes fall into the measured resource category. This study determined that underground mining is likely the only feasible method for extracting the bulk of the resource (Paper 1989-4).
Work History
In the eastern part of the Crowsnest area, the coal deposit was first discovered in 1811, and on this claim, the existence of coal seams was found in 1845.
It has been reported that in the opening year of the 20th century, mining activities were started by Crows Nest Industries Ltd. along Morrissey Creek, and during the 1902-1909 period, a total of about 450,000 tonnes of coal was mined.
According to some other records, as many as 240 ovens were in operation and the total output of coke amounted to 272,000 tons. The operation was conducted only within Crow Nest Industries’ claims situated on the northern side of Morrissey Creek. In addition, there are fair indications that small-scale exploitation as well as investigations had been carried out in the fields south of Morrissey Creek, which have now passed into the possession of Pacific Coal Limited (P.C.L.). These Morrissey coal mines were shut down after the 1909 bumps and outbursts of gas, and the subsequent depression of the coal industry.
During the past years (prior to 1964), geological surveys were carried out in this area by government agencies and public organs.
The first prospecting in recent years was carried out by P.C.L. in 1964, when ten exploratory drill holes and trenches were conducted under the direction of Dr. D.D. Campbell in a limited area along Morrissey Creek. As a result, the existence of more than 10 coal seams were confirmed and among these, several of which were found investigated further.
In 1965, at the request of P.C.L. and Toyo Menka Kaisha, Ltd., Nittetsu Mining Consultants Company Ltd., a subsidiary of Nittetsu Mining Company, Ltd. made a survey (the first). Based on the findings on this survey, a joint survey by Nittetsu Mining Co., Ltd. and Toyo Menka Kaisha, Ltd. was conducted in 1966 (the Second) and in 1967 (the third). As a result, the general conditions of coalbeds in the Fernie Coal Mine area were clarified.
