The Coal Creek coal project consists of 900 hectares of Coal Licenses (ca. 2005) located at the confluence of the Zymoetz River and Coal Creek, 40 kilometres due west of Smithers.
Up to six seams occur in Telkwa coal measures within stratified rocks of the Lower Cretaceous Skeena Group. The coal is high volatile bituminous A to B in rank and contains a number of rock partings and occasionally pyrite spherulites. The No. 1 or Main seam and the No. 2 seam are the economically more important coal seams. The No. 1 seam is 2.6 to 5 metres thick and contains significant ash in its lower portion. Volatile matter ranges from 32.2 to 37.2 per cent, fixed carbon from 53.3 to 55.3 per cent, ash from 3.54 to 11.45 per cent, sulphur from 0.38 to 0.53 per cent, and BTU from 11941 to 13258 (ca. 1913). The No. 2 seam is approximately 1.7 metres thick (0.7 to 2.0 metres) and contains two significant claystone partings. The seams are interbedded with mudstone, siltstone and sandstone. The remaining seams are generally less than 1 metre thick.
The structure in the area is dominated by a number of northeast to northwest-trending faults. Probable reserves are estimated at 281,170 tonnes of high volatile both A and B bituminous, high sulphur, low free swelling index coal with a calorific value in the range of 3653 K-cal/kilogram (Air Dried Basis) to 3779 K-cal/kilogram (Air Dried Basis) (Paper 1986-5) (see also Zymoetz River, 093L 154).
In 2005, West Hawk Development Corp. announced it had completed a definitive agreement to acquire a 100 per cent interest in the Coal Creek coal deposit; the project consists of 900 hectares of Coal Licenses.
The Coal Creek project was originally staked by J. Ashman in 1908 where five separate seams ranging from 1.8 to 4.9 metres in thickness were identified. Some initial exploration work was recorded on the property through to 1929. Interest in the area was re-established in the late 1960s and early 1970s by Western Coal & Coke Ltd. in 1968 and Kaiser Resources in 1970, respectively. A private report from Kaiser Resources Ltd. estimated the entire Zymoetz Basin to contain resources of 87,045,000 tonnes coal.
The most recent work on the property was done from 1981 to 1985 by Crows Nest Resources Ltd. consisting of trench sampling and seven diamond-drill holes. The program was designed to assess the coal quality and propose locations for two open pits.
Management believes, based on previous reports, that there is a strong potential to develop reserves of a coal product that can be blended to make Coke (Press Release - West Hawk Development Corp., October 5, 2005).
