Coal has been mined in Saskatchewan ever since the 1850s when it was used as a source of heat for the early Pioneers in the treeless Great Plains. Today, coal is still mined in Saskatchewan, but it is primarily used to generate electricity.
Coal has been mined in Saskatchewan ever since the 1850s when it was used as a source of heat for the early Pioneers in the treeless Great Plains. Today, coal is still mined in Saskatchewan, but it is primarily used to generate electricity.
In 1857, John Palliser found coal during his expeditions across southern Saskatchewan.
The first farmers in southern Saskatchewan also noticed this coal and burning it for heat. During this period, there were no commercial mines; instead farmers would collect coal from exposed seams on the edges of riverbanks and hillsides, or dig small, shallow "gopher hole" mines in their own fields. [1]
By the 1870s, the first commercial coal mines were dug underground along the banks of Willow Bunch Lake. This coal was used for heating, and also for industrial purposes. Underground mines were used in Saskatchewan until 1956. Most of the underground mines were abandoned after their closures, and the numbers of abandoned mines are estimated at 100 around Estevan, 200 around Wood Mountain, and 60 around Shaunavon. [2]
In 1882, the first coal exports from Saskatchewan occurred. Coal from Roche Percee was loaded onto barges on the Souris River, and was sent to Winnipeg to be sold. In 1892, a Soo Line rail spur was built to the coalfields near Estevan which allowed coal to be shipped by rail. [3]
In 1927, the first strip mine was dug in Saskatchewan. Strip mining is the only type of coal mining that still takes place in Saskatchewan today, and occurs mainly in the Estevan area, and to a lesser extent in the Willow Bunch / Wood Mountain areas. [2]
Coal use in Saskatchewan accelerated once it started being used for electricity generation. In 1928, Dominion Electric purchased Estevan Generating Station (EGS) from the municipality and by 1930, they had converted it into a coal-fired facility. The facility was purchased by SaskPower in 1946, and became SaskPower's first major coal power plant. By 1957, the generating capacity of EGS was 70 MW. [4] [5]
Between the 1960s and the 1990s, SaskPower built three more coal-fired power plants: Boundary Dam, Poplar River, and Shand. In 1960, Manitoba Hydro installed two generating units in Selkirk that burned Saskatchewan Lignite, and between 1957 and 1970, they installed five more units in Brandon that burned Saskatchewan Lignite. [6] In 1981 and 1982, Ontario Hydro built two new coal units on their Thunder Bay Generating Station that burned primarily Saskatchewan Lignite, with some sub-bituminous coal mixed in from either Alberta or Wyoming. In 1985, Ontario Hydro built their Atikokan Generating Station, which also burned mainly Saskatchewan Lignite plus a small amount of Alberta or Wyoming sub-bituminous coal. [7]
Today, Ontario has ceased operation of almost all their coal facilities, Manitoba only has one remaining coal facility and it only runs under emergency conditions, and SaskPower has decommissioned the Estevan Generating Station and two of the six generating units at Boundary Dam.
Saskatchewan coal production peaked in 1988 at approximately 12 million tonnes, and production is expected to continue falling until 2030 when all coal plants without CCS technology are mandated to close across Canada. [2]
Between 2008 and 2012, significant new coal deposits were discovered north of Hudson Bay, Saskatchewan wrapping around the Pasquia Hills. These deposits are thought to be part of a larger coal trend called the Durango Trend that potentially stretches from Pine River, Manitoba to La Ronge, Saskatchewan.
The coal in this area has a much higher energy density than the lignite in Southern Saskatchewan, and the seams are much thicker. The classification is sub-bituminous, which makes the coal similar to that found in Alberta and the Powder River Basin. Although the energy density is high, the coal in this area contains non-negligible amounts of sodium which prevents it from being used for electricity generation without some form of pre-processing.
The close proximity of these coal deposits to Manitoba make this coal a good candidate for Coal Liquefaction or Gasification. Manitoba has abundant, zero-emission, low-cost hydroelectricity that can make the above processes affordable, while keeping emissions low. [8]
Saskatchewan has three geological formations that contain coal: the Paleocene Ravenscrag Formation which is 55 to 65 Million years old, the Upper Cretaceous Belly River / Judith River Formation which is 75 to 80 Million years old, and the Lower Cretaceous Mannville Group which is 105 to 121 Million years old. [9]
The Ravenscrag Formation (which is part of the Fort Union Group) exists across Southern Saskatchewan and has the most-economic lignite seams due to the shallow coal depth and low water table. The formation contains three coal mining regions: Estevan, Willow Bunch / Wood Mountain, and Shaunavon / Cypress Hills.
The coal in the Hudson Bay area is part of the Mannville Group.
| Coal Region | Energy Density | Moisture | Ash | Volatile Matter | Fixed Carbon | Sulphur | Thickness | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GJ/tonne | BTU/lb | % | % | % | % | % | m | |
| Hudson Bay / Pasquia Hills [8] | 19.6 | 8,426 | 28.0 | 24.4 | 5.3 | 39.7 | 2.6 | 25 |
| Estevan / Bienfait [10] | 15.1 | 6,492 | 37.5 | 9.1 | 24.6 | 24.8 | 0.3 | 1.52 |
| Willow Bunch / Wood Mountain [10] | 12.2 | 5,245 | 39.5 | 13.7 | 23.7 | 23.1 | 0.5 | 1.85 |
| Shaunavon / Cypress Hills [10] | 10.6 | 4,557 | 40.9 | 17.5 | 21.5 | 20.1 | 0.7 | 1.72 |
All of the commercial coal mining in Saskatchewan is currently done by Westmoreland Mining LLC. Westmoreland's Estevan Mine currently consists of four active pits, and supplies coal directly to Boundary Dam and Shand. Westmoreland also operates a Char Plant (for making Barbecue Briquettes) and an Activated Carbon Plant, and both plants are fed with coal from the Estevan mine. [11] Westmoreland's Poplar River Mine consists of two active pits, and it supplies coal to Poplar River Power Station via rail. [12]
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is a type of fossil fuel, formed when dead plant matter decays into peat which is converted into coal by the heat and pressure of deep burial over millions of years. Vast deposits of coal originate in former wetlands called coal forests that covered much of the Earth's tropical land areas during the late Carboniferous (Pennsylvanian) and Permian times.
Lignite, often referred to as brown coal, is a soft, brown, combustible sedimentary rock formed from naturally compressed peat. It has a carbon content around 25–35% and is considered the lowest rank of coal due to its relatively low heat content. When removed from the ground, it contains a very high amount of moisture, which partially explains its low carbon content. Lignite is mined all around the world and is used almost exclusively as a fuel for steam-electric power generation.
Bituminous coal, or black coal, is a type of coal containing a tar-like substance called bitumen or asphalt. Its coloration can be black or sometimes dark brown; often there are well-defined bands of bright and dull material within the seams. It is typically hard but friable. Its quality is ranked higher than lignite and sub-bituminous coal, but lesser than anthracite. It is the most abundant rank of coal, with deposits found around the world, often in rocks of Carboniferous age. Bituminous coal is formed from sub-bituminous coal that is buried deeply enough to be heated to 85 °C (185 °F) or higher.
Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground or from a mine. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from iron ore and for cement production. In the United Kingdom and South Africa, a coal mine and its structures are a colliery, a coal mine is called a "pit", and above-ground mining structures are referred to as a "pit head". In Australia, "colliery" generally refers to an underground coal mine.
The Powder River Basin is a geologic structural basin in southeast Montana and northeast Wyoming, about 120 miles (190 km) east to west and 200 miles (320 km) north to south, known for its extensive coal reserves. The former hunting grounds of the Oglala Lakota, the area is very sparsely populated and is known for its rolling grasslands and semiarid climate.
The Scollard Formation is an Upper Cretaceous to lower Palaeocene stratigraphic unit of the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin in southwestern Alberta. Its deposition spanned the time interval from latest Cretaceous to early Paleocene, and it includes sediments that were deposited before, during, and after the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) extinction event. It is significant for its fossil record, and it includes the economically important coal deposits of the Ardley coal zone.
Thunder Bay Generating Station is a defunct biomass-fired thermal power station owned by Ontario Power Generation ("OPG"). It is located on Mission Island in Thunder Bay, on the shore of Lake Superior.
Atikokan Generating Station is a biomass power plant owned by Ontario Power Generation (OPG) located 8 km (5 mi) north of Atikokan, Ontario. The plant employs 90 people. The Atikokan Generating Station began operation as a coal fired station in 1985 and underwent an overhaul in the autumn of 2003.
According to the United States Energy Information Administration (EIA), Pakistan may have over 9 billion barrels (1.4×109 cubic metres) of petroleum oil and 105 trillion cubic feet (3.0 trillion cubic metres) in natural gas (including shale gas) reserves.
Coal reserves in Canada rank 13th largest in the world at approximately 10 billion tons, 0.6% of the world total. This represents more energy than all of the oil and gas in the country combined. The coal industry generates CDN$5 billion annually. Most of Canada's coal mining occurs in the West of the country. British Columbia operates 9 coal mines, Alberta nine, Saskatchewan three and New Brunswick one. Nova Scotia operates several small-scale mines, Westray having closed following the 1992 disaster there.
The Mist Mountain Formation is a geologic formation of latest Jurassic to earliest Cretaceous age in the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin that is present in the southern and central Canadian Rockies. It was named for outcrops along the western spur of Mist Mountain in Alberta by D.W. Gibson in 1979. The Mist Mountain Formation contains economically important coal seams that have been mined in southeastern British Columbia and southwestern Alberta.
Boundary Dam Power Station is the largest coal fired station owned by SaskPower, located near Estevan, Saskatchewan, Canada.
Shand Power Station is a coal fired station owned by SaskPower in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan, near the city of Estevan.
Poplar River Power Station is a coal-fired station owned by SaskPower, located near Coronach, Saskatchewan, Canada, approximately 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) from the Canada–US border.
The Ravenscrag Formation is a stratigraphic unit of early Paleocene age in the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin. It was named for the settlement of Ravenscrag, Saskatchewan, and was first described from outcrops at Ravenscrag Butte near the Frenchman River by N.B. Davis in 1918.
The Elk Formation is a stratigraphic unit of the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin that is present in southeastern British Columbia and southwestern Alberta. It is probably of Early Cretaceous age, but in some areas its strata could be as old as Late Jurassic. It includes minor thin coal beds and was named for outcrops near the now-abandoned Elk River coal mine east of Fernie, British Columbia.
The Coalspur Formation is an Upper Cretaceous to lower Palaeocene stratigraphic unit of the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin in the foothills of southwestern Alberta. Its deposition spanned the time interval from latest Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) to early Palaeocene, and it includes sediments that were deposited before, during, and after the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) extinction event. It includes the economically important coal deposits of the Coalspur Coal Zone, as well as nonmarine plant and animal fossils.
Coal in Alberta is found in the Coalspur Formation in the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin in the foothills of southwestern Alberta. The Coalspur Formation, which has large quantities of high-quality coal, runs from south of the Wapiti River to the North Saskatchewan River. The Coalspur coal zone is about 120 metres (390 ft) to 200 metres (660 ft) thick.
The Rheinisches Braunkohlerevier, often called the Rhenish mining area, is a lignite mining area or district in the Cologne Bay, on the northwestern edge of the Rhenish Slate Mountains. The mining of lignite using the open pit method has had a significant impact on the landscape here and led to the formation of several important industrial sites. The area includes the Zülpicher and Jülicher Börde, the Erft lowlands and the Ville, making it the largest lignite mining area in Europe. To a lesser extent clay, silica sand and loess are mined here. The area is the only active lignite mining area in what was West Germany during German partition and contains the mines with the largest surface area, greatest depth, and biggest annual output of coal.