Coal was first reported in the Nanaimo area in 1849. The Nanaimo coalfield was developed and more or less depleted between 1852 and 1953 respectively, during which time a total of 49 million tonnes of coal was produced.

Production in the coalfield was from three major seams: the Wellington, Newcastle and Douglas. The Wellington seam occurs in the Northfield Member at the base of the Early Campanian Extension Formation of the Nanaimo Group. The Douglas and Newcastle seams occur within the Newcastle Member of the Early Campanian Pender Formation of the Nanaimo Group. The Newcastle seam is 244 to 305 metres above the Wellington seam and on average 18 metres below the Douglas seam. The coal seams are interbedded with sandstone, shale and conglomerate.

Kitac Enterprises of the Nanaimo project proposes to obtain a clean coal product from the processing of various coal dumps in the area (G. Ketchley, personal communication, 1993).