Open Pit Coalmine In The Crow Area

[DonAndersen]

Looks like a company is close to opening a mine near Coleman/Blairmore.

Maybe some impacts?

 

Don

[Ricinus]

Not to worry, if they destroy any rivers or streams, they'll just make some pothole lakes, fill them with stockers and call it square.

 

Mike

[Taco]

Grassy Mtn's straight north of Blairmore 9k and I wouldn't call it an open pit, more like a mountain top strip mine. Knock the top off and haul away the black *hit. Daisy, Vicary, Gold and Blairmore Ck are all fed from Grassy. They've been visibly assessin' that coal seam for 35yrs, just waitin' to see what gonna happen with this latest go round.

[DonAndersen]

Wonder where the loading terminal will be located? If it's along the Crow, looks like the land just east of the Hospital is about the only one large enough for 100 car trains. The other two locations are just west of Blairmore on the river flat is mostly silt. Farther west may be an option along the river. Longer haul from the mine face though.

Looked over Google Earth @ the other mine locations on the Elk. Gives one a feeling of what could be coming.

 

Upside though... The effluent from the mone may increase the nutrient load in the Crow thereby replacing the nutrient clean

up of the sewage.

 

The bug life may rebound to what was seen n the1980's!

 

 

Don

[Taco]

Yeah most don't realize that there's 6 or 7 (?) coal mines on the Elk system in SE BC. I'm just gonna wait and see what the proposal is on this'n first.

[Flyfisher]

By and large coal mining in the Elk R. watershed in BC hasn't been a detriment to fish, in fact it has increased nutrient load down stream due to leaching from exposed aggregate. However there is concern that there may be a problem lurking and that is an ongoing increase in selenium levels likely attributable to the mining. It's being monitored.

[Guest 420FLYFISHIN]

the only thing that i dont like is that we will be shipping all that coal to china and they have no environmental checks on their steal production where its going. This will be a huge boost to the local economy and that will be great for the towns that have a had major slowdowns over the past few years.

[trailhead]

Grassy mountain was an existing stripmine that closed in 1957 there are pits and lots of old mining remnants from when they just up & left last time. Kind of a cool hike up that way. It remains to be seen if a mine goes ahead, as the reserves in place are not big by comparison. In the old days they hauled the coal by truck down to Blairmore to the old tipple just east of the golf course. Maybe they would take the land that the River Run development was supposed to be built on for the transfer to trains, though the coal dust would be an issue there and nowadays that is a concern, not like in the 50's and earlier.

[Guest 420FLYFISHIN]

from what i heard from my grandfather in law (he ran the Elk mine in the late 40s-50s) he says that the reserves in the area are MASSIVE, much more than what people think is accessible that is. Even the Elk seam that they are working on goes to the bottom of the valley then under the elk river and back up the far side of the mountain.

[trailhead]

Yeah the reserves on the BC side are absolutely huge, the Grassy Mtn Alberta side not so much.

[Taco]

Grassy mountain was an existing stripmine that closed in 1957 there are pits and lots of old mining remnants from when they just up & left last time. Kind of a cool hike up that way. It remains to be seen if a mine goes ahead, as the reserves in place are not big by comparison. In the old days they hauled the coal by truck down to Blairmore to the old tipple just east of the golf course. Maybe they would take the land that the River Run development was supposed to be built on for the transfer to trains, though the coal dust would be an issue there and nowadays that is a concern, not like in the 50's and earlier.

 

So Grassy is like the short-lived Racehorse strip mine, never knew that.. thanks for the info.