The Tent Mountain occurrence, a Past Producer, is located approximately 30 kilometres east-northeast of Fernie, British Columbia. The coal deposit straddles the British Columbia-Alberta border.

Five main coal seams occur in the Jurassic-Cretaceous Mist Mountain Formation (Kootenay Group) at Tent Mountain, interbedded with sandstone, siltstone and mudstone. The stratigraphically lowest or No. 2 seam varies from 6.1 to 18.3 metres thick with a shale split 0.6 to 2.7 metres thick. The seam is repeated to the south by a thrust fault which also causes thinning and thickening of the seam. No. 3 seam (approximately 61 metres above No. 2 seam) is a coaly shale 1.5 metres thick. The No. 4 seam (131 metres above No. 2 seam) varies in thickness from 4.3 to 6.7 metres (averaging 5.2 metres) and is consistent over the property. The No. 5 seam (approximately 58 metres above the No. 4 seam) varies from 9.1 to 24.4 metres in thickness and contains small shale bands. Towards the north the No. 5 seam consists of two seams, 5A and 5B. Seam 5B thickens towards the south while 5A thins and becomes a coaly shale.

The structure consists of a series of tight north to northwest trending folds and approximately northwest trending, west dipping thrust faults.

From 1952 to 1955, the 5B seam (average thickness 18.3 metres) has been mined in a trench cut known as the No. 4 Pit South. The No. 6 seam (46 metres above the No. 5B seam) varies from 2.4 to 7.9 metres in thickness in the south and is affected by thrust faulting (cut off at depth). The No. 7 seam is generally cut off by the major thrust fault on the east flank of Tent Mountain.

Analyses from the No. 2 and No. 4 seams indicate ash, volatile matter and sulphur contents ranging from 11.3 to 15.1 per cent, 0.56 to 0.66 per cent and 24.8 to 26.1 per cent (clean coal) respectively. The BTU/pound varies from 13,400 to 13,500 with the Free Swelling Index from 4 to 5.5 (clean coal).

A total coal reserve of 77,284,920 tonnes has been proven down to the 610 metre cover-line on the east flank of Tent Mountain, 44.2 metres in Alberta, 41 metres in British Columbia (Coal Assessment Report 450). The surface mine potential is approximately 32 million tonnes; 20 million tonnes in British Columbia and 12 million tonnes in Alberta.

Mining at Tent Mountain began around 1950 and was operated by Coleman Collieries Ltd. when mine operations ceased on July 8, 1980.

In 2013, CanAus Coal Ltd. explored an area 3 kilometres northwest of the past producing mine. This new area is also being called Tent Mountain, and is part of CanAus Coal’s Michel Creek Coking Coal Project.