Canadian Coal Deposits

Luise Vogler

TU Bergakademie Freiberg, Germany

Abstract. In Canada and around the world you can find coal as a valuable and

abundant fossil fuel resource. The origin goes back to 300 million years ago. It

was a carbon-rich mineral resource which was formed as organic plant matter

decayed and compressed. It was altered by geological processes over millions of

years. It is a black or brownish-black sedimentary rock that is extracted from the

ground by open-pit surface mining or underground mining. Today, coal remains

an enormously important fuel because it generates the largest single source of

electricity worldwide. It also helps produce over 70 % of the world`s steel and is

used by other industrial processes like cement manufacturing.

Introduction

Today Canada is richly loaded with coal. Its coal resources are very distributed

and have diverse attributes. The diversity in the nation`s coal resources puts

Canada in a strong position to respond positively to coal developement

opportunities as national and international coal requirements change.

Coal-bearing strata are found in many areas of Canada, from coastal British

Columbia in the west, to the Atlantic Provinces in the east, and in Northern

Canada (Figure 1). These strata range in age from Devonian to Tertiary, and the

coals range in rank from lignitic to anthracitic.

2 Luise Vogler

Fig.1. Distribution of coal in Canada (modified after Smith, 1989).

The nature of coal occurrences and characteristics vary from region to region.

These differences result from the varying types of vegetation from which the coal

originated; the depths of storage, and the temperatures and pressures at those

depths; as well as the length of time the coal has been forming in the deposit. The

varying amount of mineral matter in a coal deposit may also have a significant

effect on its properties and classification.

The major coal resources in eastern Canada are of Late Carboniferous age, like

those of western Europe and in the Appalachian region of the United States. The

largest coal-bearing region is located in western Canada, stretching from south

Saskatchewan across Alberta into British Columbia. The major coal deposits are

younger, ranging in age from Late Jurrasic to Tertiary. These are characteristically

different from those in the east (Smith, 1989).

Coal deposits originated as peat-forming materials that accumulated at or near

their place of growth, within swamps and marshes occurring in deltaic, alluvial

and lacustrine environments. Major coal-bearing sedimentary basins of Canada are

shown in Figure 2.

Canadian Coal Deposits 3

Fig.2. Major coal-bearing sedimentary basins in Canada (modified after Smith,

1989).

Most Canadian coals are consumed either by carbonization to produce

metallurgical coke, or by combustion to raise steam for electric power generation

(Smith, 1989). Coals that are suitable for the production of metallurgical coke are

referred to as metallurgical coals. Coals that are used to fuel electric power

generating plants are referred to as thermal coals.

Most of Canada`s metallurgical coal deposits are located in the Rocky

Mountain Ranges of southeastern British Columbia and southwestern Alberta, and

in the Inner Foothills Belt of northeastern British Columbia and westcentral

Alberta. And most of Canada`s thermal coal deposits are located in the Interior

Plains of Alberta and Saskatchewan, and in the Outer Foothills Belt of Alberta.

Other major thermal coal resources occur in the coastal and intermontane regions

of British Columbia, and in Northern Canada.

The ranks of coals, from those with the least carbon to those with the most carbon,

are lignite, sub-bituminous, bituminous and anthracite. In addition to carbon, coals

contain hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen and varying amounts of sulphur. High-rank

coals are high in carbon and therefore they bare great heat value, but low in

hydrogen and oxygen. Low-rank coals are low in carbon but high in hydrogen and

oxygen content.

4 Luise Vogler

The highest rank, and hardest coal, is anthracite. It does not meet the major

current conventional thermal and metallurgical market requirements. It is found

almost exclusively in the northern intermontane region of British Columbia, and in

the Yukon Territory. Smaller resources occur in the Rocky Mountain Front

Ranges and Inner Foothills of Alberta.

Bituminous coal, ranked second highest, is found in

Alberta, British Columbia and the Maritimes. On one

side bituminous coal can be metallurgical, used to make

coke for the steel industry, or thermal, used to generate

electricity. In 2002, bituminous coal accounted for 29.7

million tonnes (Mt) or approximately 45 % of Canada's

total coal production (Coal Association of Canada,

2006).

Sub-bituminous coal is softer than bituminous and

contains more moisture, making it less economic to

transport long distances. Alberta is the only province

where sub-bituminous coal is mined. In 2001, 25.4 Mt

were produced to generate over 70 % of the province's

electricity (Coal Association of Canada, 2006).

Fig.3. Ranks of coal Lignite is a soft, brown or black coal found in southern

(modified after Coal Saskatchewan, southeastern Alberta and southwestern

Association of Manitoba. Only the Saskatchewan deposits are

Canada, 2006). currently being mined and production is used to

generate approximately 70 % the province's electricity.

In 2001, 11.4 Mt of lignite coal were produced in Saskatchewan (Coal Association

of Canada, 2006).

Many Canadian coals show good liquefaction and gasification potential, and

some may be ideally suited for in situ gasification.

Coal Regions of Canada

Coastal British Columbia

Vancouver Island, Queen Charlotte Islands and the coastal mainland of

southwestern British Columbia contain coals that vary in rank from lignitic to

anthracitic occurrence in Late Mesozoic and Tertiary strata. Along the east coast

of Vancouver Island the most promising resource potential is within the Upper

Cretaceous Nanaimo Group which contains high volatile bituminous coals. Their

attributes are almost identical to those of other coals used to fuel conventional

thermal electric generating plants in Canada and in other parts of the world.

On Graham Island in the Queen Charlotte Islands and in the Fraser Basin on the

coastal mainland occur low rank Tertiary coals. Although large quantities may

exist in both areas, they are much too deep for economical surface mining.

Significant lignite resources occur in the lower nonmarine member of the

Tertiary Skonun Formation. The Skonun Coalfield consists of thirteen beds of

Canadian Coal Deposits 5

woody lignite and it has a thickness of 6 m occur within 60 m of shale. The

thickest reported bed is 1.8 m. These beds occur in a faulted, west-plunging,

moderatly appressed anticline.

Coal deposits of Graham Island vary from the rank low volatile bituminous to

anthracite, from high to medium volatile bituminous and from lignite to sub-

bituminous.

Minor Eocene lignite and carbonaceous sandstone deposits in the Lang Bay

area of the coastal mainland are not commercially significant in the context of

conventional coal exploitation. However, some contain high concentration of

germanium and gallium. The commercial recovery of these rare metals, which are

primarily contained in the vitrinite fraction of the lignite, is presently being

investigated.

Coal deposits occur in Lower Cretaceous strata at the north end of Vancouver

Island. These deposits are essentially unexplored and are not well understood.

Jurassic to Cretaceous strata on Graham Island contain coal deposits that have

been explored.

Intermontane British Columbia

Intermontane British Columbia has been divided into a northern and a southern

region.

In the northern region, coal deposits occur in strata ranging from Lower

Jurassic to Lower Tertiary. The most commercially significant of these deposits

are within Upper Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous strata. These coals vary in rank

from high volatile bituminous to anthracitic. No high quality coking coals have

been identified. The rank of coals in the northern intermontane region ranges from

lignitic to anthracitic.

In the southern region, all major coal deposits are Tertiary in age and have

ranks ranging between lignitic and high volatile bituminous. Evolution and

developement of the coal-bearing sedimentary basins in the region were largely

tectonically controlled. Some of the coal occurrences were deposited within fault-

controlled graben-like structures and others exist as erosional remnants of larger

sedimentary basins. The major coal measures of the region are of middle Eocene

age, only the Quensel and Bowron River coalfields are of late Eocene or younger.

The quality of the coals varies significantly among the deposits and within each

deposit. The rank of coal ranges from lignitic to bituminous.

Canadian Rocky Mountains

The Canadian Rocky Mountains are devided into the Rocky Mountain Main

Ranges, the Rocky Mountain Front Ranges, the Foothills and the Interior Plains.

The Rocky Mountain Main Ranges contain mostly Precambrian, Cambrian,

some Devonian and Mississippian rock units.

The Rocky Mountain Front Ranges and Foothills of British Columbia and

Alberta contain more than 95 per cent of Canada`s bituminous coal resources. The

6 Luise Vogler

region is devided into three distinct coal-bearing regions – Rocky Mountain Front

Ranges, Inner Foothills Belt and Outer Foothills Belt.

The Rocky Mountain Front Ranges are characterized by thrust sheets of mainly

Upper Paleozoic carbonates bounded by faults that extend for tens of kilometres in

length and have displacements up to several kilometres. In the Rocky Mountain

Front Ranges occur Jurassic to Cretaceous coal measures.

Most of Canada's lignitic and sub-bituminous coal desposits occur within the

Interior Plains of the Rocky Mountains. The coal commonly occurs close to the

surface, and in near-horizontal beds. These are conditions that are often ideal for

large-scale strip mining operations. Most of the production is used to fuel mine-

mouth electric power generating stations.

Near surface stratigraphic sequences in the Interior Plains were stored mainly in

Late Cretaceous and Tertiary times.

Generally, coal measures of the Interior Plains have not been tectonically

deformed except in a regional sense. However, they have been deformed to

varying degrees by differential compaction. Additionally, strata occurring near the

bedrock surface have been variably folded and faulted by overriding glacial

movements. This deformation tends to complicate mining operations.

Most of Canada`s metallurgical coal deposits are located in the Rocky

Mountain Ranges of southeastern British Columbia and southwestern Alberta, and

in the Inner Foothills Belt of northeastern British Columbia and westcentral

Alberta.

Fig.4. Canadian Rocky Mountains – A Cross Section Through the Rocky

Mountains to the Interior Plains (modified after Mussieux and Nelson, 2000).

Atlantic Provinces: New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland

In the Atlantic Provinces of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland in

eastern Canada occur significant coal deposits. These deposits are contained in

strata stored of Carboniferous.

The Pictou Coalfield contains the only known low volatile bituminous coal in

eastern Canada.

Canadian Coal Deposits 7

The Sydney Coalfield contains most of the coal deposits and reserves of the

Atlantic Provinces. More than 98 per cent of the coalfield is located offshore.

Only a very small part of the field is on land with the greater part of it beneath the

Atlantic Ocean. The rank of coals varies enormously, increasing to the east and

with depth.

There are four small coalfields along the west coast of Cape Breton Island.

They are Port Hood, Mabou, Inverness and St. Rose Chimney Corner. The quality

of the coal, structural conditions and the extensive submarine position of these

small fields have restricted their exploration and developement.

The Atlantic-Province coals are typically high in sulphur content relative to

western Canadian Cretaceous coals. They are generally fuels for conventional

coal-fired electric power generating stations, and often have characteristics

suitable for metallurgical coke-making.

Most coal resources of the Atlantic Provinces range in rank between high

volatile C bituminous and high volatile A bituminous. Many of these coals are

suitable as both thermal and metallurgical coals.

Northern Canada

Coal resource quantities of Northern Canada are very large, most deposits have

generally not been well explored because of their distance and other factors that

have reduced against possible exploitation. The coal resources that occur in the

Yukon Territory and District of Mackenzie will be considered separately from

those in the Arctic Archipelago. All coal resources of immediate interest occur in

the Yukon Territory and District of Mackenzie. Coal beds in northern Canada

occur in strata from Devonian to Tertiary. All rank classes from lignitic to

anthracitic exist in the region.

In the Yukon Territory and the western District of Mackenzie the in situ coals

contain less than 30 % and occasionally less than 15 % ash. Sulphur is less than

0.5 % with the exception of the Mississippian coals in the Nahanni region, which

have sulphur by 2 %. Most coals appear to be suitable fuels for conventional coal-

fired electric power generating plants, and some are suitable for metallurgical

coke-making.

In the Middle and Upper Devonian clastic wedge, that extends from Ellesmere

Island to Banks Island in the Arctic Archipelago, occur the oldest significant coal

beds in Canada. The Arctic Archipelago contains both lignite and higher rank

coals.

Canada`s Coal Production through the Years

Since the 1970s, Canada has been a large producer of coal. In 1996, the coal

production was a record about 75.95 Mt (Figure 3). But Canada is not one of the

world`s major producers, because most Canadian coal resources are located in

western Canada, Alberta and eastern British Columbia. The transportation to

8 Luise Vogler

foreign markets requires long rail haulage (600 km or more) to ocean ports, thus

increasing shipping costs and thereby limiting export involved (Cranstone, 2003).

Although Canada produces coal in the east provinces. The transportation costs

are not only high, but in the east the St. Lawrence Seaway and some of the Great

Lakes are even closed to navigation for two or three months each year as result of

winter ice conditions.

On the other side, the relatively low sulphur content of coal from western

Canada (about 0.5 % sulphur) makes it much more environmentally acceptable

than is the high-sulphur coal from Pennsylvania (about 3 % sulphur) (Cranstone,

2003).

Fig. 5. Canadian Coal Production, 1867-2000 (modified after Cranstone, 2003).

Mining and Using of Coal

According to Coal Accociation of Canada 2006, in 2002, Canada produced 66.6

million tonnes (Mt) of coal. About 40 % of that, 26.8 Mt, was exported to over 20

different countries in the Pacific Rim, Europe and South America. Japan, Canada's

largest coal customer, purchased 10.7 Mt of coal in 2001. Over 97 % (10.4 Mt) of

that coal exported to Japan was metallurgical coal, used for making steel.

Canadian Coal Deposits 9

Of the ten provinces, Ontario and Alberta consume by far the greatest amounts

of coal. In 2001, Alberta used 25.5 Mt, about 42 % of the coal consumed in

Canada. In the same year, Ontario used 19.1 Mt, or about 32 % of Canada's coal

use. Four other provinces use coal to generate electricity: Saskatchewan,

Manitoba, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.

Although much of its production is used domestically, Canada imported 22.1

Mt of coal for industrial use in Ontario and Québec and for electrical generation in

Ontario and New Brunswick (Coal Association of Canada, 2006).

Future interests

In most sedimentary basins in Canada coal beds occur in a variety of forms and

amounts. Coal bed thickness, geographical location, depth from surface and coal

quality are primary indicators of a deposit's potential utility.

According to Geological Survey of Canada 2006, deposits of future interest

consider coal beds that are less than 60 cm thick (with the exception of resources

in New Brunswick, where thinner beds are currently mined), occurring at depths

that are greater than 600 m from surface, (with the exception of resources in Nova

Scotia, where mining to much greater depths is currently planned).

Coal is second only to oil as an energy source in the world. Approximately 70

% of the world's coal production is used to generate 40 % of the world's

electricity, 12 % is made into coke used to produce 70 % of the world's steel, and

the remaining 18 % is used for other industrial and domestic purposes. 18 % of

Canada's electricity is generated by using coal.

In Canada, all cement plants, with the exception of a white cement plant in

Ontario, use coal in their manufacturing process. A total of 1.2 million tonnes of

coal was used to produce 13.5 million tonnes of cement in 2003.

In 2005, Canada produced 67.3 Mt of coal, a small increase over 2004’s

production of 66.5 Mt. The increase was mainly from Alberta, which produced

28.6 Mt of coal in 2005. Production from British Columbia and Saskatchewan

remained at a level similar to 2004 (Coal Association of Canada, 2006).

Canada exported 28.2 Mt of coal - 26.7 Mt was coking coal and 1.5 Mt was

thermal coal. In 2005, compared with 2004, Canada’s export volume increased by

8 %. Asia is the largest market for Canada - the exports increased 24 % and its

volume reached 15 Mt in 2005, compared with 12 Mt in 2004 (Coal Association

of Canada, 2006).

With rapid improvement in emissions reduction technology, better

environmental management in mining operations, widespread availability

worldwide, and substantial remaining reserves, coal will continue to play a vital

role in providing the world's energy well into the foreseeable future.

10 Luise Vogler

References

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Muise, D.A..; McIntosh, R.G. (1996) Coal Mining in Canada: A Historical and

Comparative Overview, National Museum of Science and Technology, pp. 52-55

Cranstone, D. (2003) Canada: A History of Mining and Mineral Exploration and

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