The Hermann coal project is located south of the Wolverine Valley, about 18 kilometres southwest of Tumbler Ridge near Mast Creek.
The Hermann property is divided into Hermann North, Hermann Syncline, Hermann Gething and Hermann West, with the Hermann North prospect having the best surface mining potential. Five main coal seams in the middle part of the Gates Formation of medium volatile bituminous rank have a cumulative thickness of up to 12.5 metres. The proposed mine would have a production rate of about 1 million tonnes per year of clean coal with a 10-year mine life. Three open pits are proposed, covering an area of 3200 by 490 metres.
The following geological description is taken in whole or in part from the Summary Report on the Hermann Coal Property by Norwest Mine Services Ltd., January 11, 2002, for property owner Western Canadian Coal Corp. The report is available for viewing on the SEDAR website (www.sedar.com). Western Canadian Coal Corp. plans to develop an open-pit mine on the Wolverine group of properties which includes the Perry Creek (093P 025), EB (Mount Spieker) (092P 015) and Hermann deposits. See those deposits for further details.
The Hermann coal licenses cover ground previously owned and explored by Denison Mines Ltd. and Quintette. Drilling started as early as 1976 and was accelerated in late 1981 after Quintette entered a sales agreement with members of the Japanese steel industry. Mine development and construction that soon followed was accompanied by the establishment by the British Columbia and Federal governments of infrastructure consisting of the town of Tumbler Ridge, high voltage power line, rail line, access roads and a deep-sea port at Ridley Island. The most extensive drilling was carried out from 1985 to 1988 when exploration of the licenses became part of Quintette's overall long-term mine development plan. The licenses were allowed to lapse after Quintette ceased operations in August 2000. From the mid-1970s to 1988, a total of 20,435 metres was drilled in 54 HQ diamond-drill holes, 107 rotary-drill holes and 6 geotechnical holes.
The coal-bearing units are the Lower Cretaceous Gething Formation (Bullhead Group) and the Lower Cretaceous Gates Formation (Fort St. John Group) consisting of a succession of interbedded shale, sandstone, siltstone, conglomerate and coal.
The Gates coal comprises the middle portion of the Gates Formation. It contains the coals of interest in the Hermann North and Hermann Syncline areas. Drilling (to 2002) in Hermann North consisting of 18 rotary-drill holes and 4 diamond-drill holes intersected eight coal seams of the Middle Gates. The coal seams in ascending order are the K, J, G, F, E, E/F, D and C. The seams vary slightly in thickness from one hole to the next, averaging 1.8 metres for the K seam to 9.5 metres for the E/F seam. The per cent ash content is based on air-dried raw coal and ranges from 11.05 to 38.4. Facies changes within the seams are characterized by splitting and coalescing within short distances. However, seam and inter-seam characteristics are distinct making stratigraphic correlation easy.
There are two significant coal seams near the bottom of the Gething Formation. In the Hermann Gething area, the two seams are designated the GT1 and the GT2 which are equivalent to the Skeeter and Chamberlain seams respectively, in the Sukunka area. The apparent thickness of the GT1 (Skeeter) seam ranges from 2.78 to 6.49 metres, whereas that of the GT2 (Chamberlain) seam ranges from 0.72 to 3.52 metres on the Hermann property. In the Quintette area, Gething coals are generally ranked as low volatile bituminous. From geophysical logs, the GT1 seam in the Hermann Gething area is clean with head ash estimated at 20 per cent. A third coal seam known as the Bird occurs near the top of the Gething Formation and just below the base of the Lower Cretaceous Moosebar Formation (Fort St. John Group). Although the Bird seam characteristically shows low ash and high FSI readings, excessive sulphur has deterred its further investigation. At Sukunka, the Bird seam includes significant amounts of organic sulphur in the coal which, unlike pyrite, has been proven difficult to eliminate.
A coal resource tonnage assessment was carried out for the Hermann North geology model using accepted criteria developed by the Geological Survey of Canada as specified by the Canadian Securities Administrators. On this basis, a total resource in the measured, indicated and inferred categories of 48.7 million tonnes of in-place coal has been estimated down to a cut-off strip ratio of 20:1 bank cubic metre per tonne . A lower cut-off strip ratio of 10:1 bank cubic metre per tonne yields 26.7 million tonnes of coal resources at an average strip ratio of 5.3 bank cubic metre per tonne (Summary Report on the Hermann Coal Property by Norwest Mine Services Ltd., January 11, 2002, www.sedar.com).
In 2006, Western Canadian Coal Corp. (WCCC) commissioned Marston to produce a mining feasibility study of producing coal from the Hermann area. The study included a comprehensive review of geological data and coal seam interpretations within the Project area; a geological model and resource estimates for a conceptual pit design at a strip ratio of 20:1 bank cubic metre per tonne; the development of two mine plan alternatives (Base Case and NGW Case) from economically based ultimate pits; and associated infrastructure required to support the Project (www.sedar.com). Reserves and resources were detailed in a December, 2007, Technical Report for Western Canadian Coal Corp. as follows:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------Reserves (tonnes) Resources (tonnes) Proven Probable Measured Indicated Inferred 10,700,000 3,600,000 14,993,000 15,584,000 9,600,000 (from GeoFile 2010-11) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
In 1980, one rotary-drill hole (QJR80011) tested the Gates member coal thickness in the remnant syncline structure referred to as the Hermann Syncline (Coal Assessment Report 724). This structure had been accessed during the fall of 1980 when Nabors Drilling Limited completed a gas well (B.P. ET:A1 Murray d-83-J-93-I-14) for British Petroleum through the structure in intersecting a potentially productive gas-bearing horizon well below the coal measures. During 1982, six rotary-drill holes (QHR8201-8206) were completed on the aforementioned well site access road to test coal bearing thickness of both the Hermann Syncline as well as the Hermann North area where a steeply dipping Gates section extends southeasterly from the Marmot subpit in the Mesa mine (093P 019). Results of this program led to the completion of five rotary-drill holes (QHR8301-8305) in 1983 plus access road construction and detailed geological mapping, in Hermann North. In 1984, a further 12 rotary holes and trenching were undertaken in the Hermann Syncline plus six rotary holes and 3 diamond-drill holes in Hermann North. Further work that year comprised six rotary holes in the Gething Area and the first rotary (6) and diamond (1) holes in the Hermann South area (Coal Assessment Report 724). In 1985, limited mapping and the first two diamond-drill holes were placed in the Transfer Anticline.
In the Hermann Gething area, it had been recognized that two coal seams of mining interest, identified as GTl and GT2, were present at shallow depth (1976 drillhole QJD7642). In 1986, drilling further confirmed this potential and in addition, the area northwest of the Hermann Gething area was drilled and mapped. GTl seam is found just below the conglomerate-sandstone bed which forms a flat table-like topography. The seam is generally divided into two portions designated as the Upper and Lower. The Upper GTl is characterized by a group of partings in the lower half, which is composed mainly of shale and carbonaceous shale. The thickness of the parting zone ranges from 0.90 to 1.34 metres in the northwest, but toward the south it thins to be about 0.2 metre. Upper GTl has only a few thin partings and is about 4 metres in thickness. Total thickness of GTl seam ranges from 5.06 to 7.53 metres with an average of 6.44 metres. The interval between GTl and GT2 seams is about 10 metres in the northwest of the area and thins toward the south to 3 metres. GT2 seam is generally clean coal, although a very thin carbonaceous parting is occasionally present. The seam ranges in thickness from 0.74 to 0.94 metre.
The Hermann coking coal property has been the subject of extensive exploration programs through 2005 and 2006 and Western Canadian Coal Corp. has proposed to develop the property as a satellite mine to its Wolverine operation, located 12.5 kilometres by road to the north. Drilling in 2005 elevated the Hermann deposit to the indicated reserve level. Additional rotary drilling was completed in 2006 to improve reserve definitions and large diameter core drilling of the seams obtained samples for coal quality test work. Project planning and feasibility studies took place throughout the year and engineering and environmental work continued into 2007. The Hermann project formally entered the province’s Environmental Assessment (EA) process in July, 2006. Western Canadian Coal submitted its application for an EA Certificate in December, 2006. The proposed mine plan includes the development of four pits (Hermann North 1, 2 and 3 and Hermann Syncline) to access coal from five seams (E, E4, F, G and J) with an aggregate thickness of about 14.8 metres in the Gates Formation. The estimated total clean coal production for the mine is 9.0 million tonnes at an annual rate of 0.8 to 1.1 million tonnes per year. In late November 2008, the Hermann project was granted an Environmental Assessment (EA) certificate.
In 2013, no work was done by Walter Energy Inc.-Western Coal Corp. on the Hermann project. The provincial EA certificate for the project was extended in 2013 for another 5 years. In 2014, a six-hole core drilling program was completed at the Hermann North prospect area totalling 999 metres.
As of March 2013, recoverable coal reserves were 9.1 million tonnes (Proven and Probable). There is a resource of 30.6 million tonnes in situ, including reserves, March 31, 2010 (Exploration and Mining in British Columbia 2014, page 13).
