Coal was first reported in the Nanaimo area in 1849. The Nanaimo Coalfield was developed and more or less depleted between 1852 and 1953, during which time a total of 49 megatonnes of coal was produced.
Production in the Nanaimo Coalfield was from three major seams: the Wellington, the Newcastle and the Douglas. The Wellington seam was worked in the Wellington field (Wellington/Northfield 092GSW048), the East Wellington field (Chandler/East Wellington 092GSW030 and Wakesiah 092GSW040), the Harewood mine (092GSW033), and further to the south, the Extension field (Extension No.1 thru 3 092GSW028, Extension No.4 092GSW053, Extension No. 8 092GSW042, Beban's 092GSW 026, Old No. 1 Slope/Vancouver 092GSW027, Extension Prospect 092GSW 036, White Rapids 092GSW043). The mines are separated by faulted strata or areas where the seam thins to unprofitable thicknesses. The total workable area was 19.3 kilometres long and averaged 1.6 kilometres in width.
The main Wellington seam (No. 1) occurs in the Northfield Member at the base of the Early Campanian Extension Formation of the Upper Cretaceous Nanaimo Group. The coal is commonly underlain by sandstone and overlain by conglomerate of the Millstream Member. Shale partings are common in the main seam and thickness is extremely variable, ranging from 1.2 to 2.13 metres, due to minor folds, faults or bands usually in the roof (the base of the overlying Millstream Member is often a scour surface). The average thickness is 1.9 metres inclusive of minor dirt bands. The floor is marked by a distinctive rooty bed. The main seam, consisting of highly volatile bituminous rank coal, was the main source of production.
Minor workings were established on three upper seams designated the Wellington No.2 or Little Wellington, Wellington No.3 and Wellington No.4. These rarely exceed 0.60 metres in thickness and lie above the Wellington at intervals of 10.67 metres, 18.29 metres and 22.9 metres, floor to floor.
The strata strike northwest and dip towards the northeast (approximately 10 degrees). To the south and west, the beds are cut off by a northwest-southeast trending normal(?) fault and a number of broad northwest trending folds occur in the coal bearing formation to the north and east.
Beban's Mine was brought into production in 1936 and operated until 1941. The mine is situated on the same site as the Old No.1 Slope or Chambers' Mine (092GSW027), and was developed to mine part of the coal that was left by the former operators. Operations com- menced in July, 1936 and in 140 working days, 2,174 tonnes of highly volatile, bituminous rank coal was produced. The mine produced about 75,962 tonnes of coal over a period of about six years. The property was abandoned in July, 1941 when the Main slope pillars were mined almost to the portal.
