 | |
| Reclamation mining | |
| Industry | Mining |
| Founded | 1980 |
| Founder | John Chisholm (1946-2014) |
| Headquarters | Antigonish, Nova Scotia , Canada |
Area served | Nova Scotia |
Key people | Donald Chisholm, President [1] |
| Products | Coal |
| Owner | Private |
Pioneer Coal Limited is a Canadian mining company based in Antigonish, Nova Scotia.
Canada is a country in the northern part of North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic to the Pacific and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering 9.98 million square kilometres, making it the world's second-largest country by total area. Canada's southern border with the United States, stretching some 8,891 kilometres (5,525 mi), is the world's longest bi-national land border. Its capital is Ottawa, and its three largest metropolitan areas are Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver. As a whole, Canada is sparsely populated, the majority of its land area being dominated by forest and tundra. Consequently, its population is highly urbanized, with over 80 percent of its inhabitants concentrated in large and medium-sized cities, with 70% of citizens residing within 100 kilometres (62 mi) of the southern border. Canada's climate varies widely across its vast area, ranging from arctic weather in the north, to hot summers in the southern regions, with four distinct seasons.
Antigonish is a town in Antigonish County, Nova Scotia, Canada. The town is home to St. Francis Xavier University and the oldest continuous Highland games outside Scotland. It is approximately 160 kilometres northeast of Halifax, the provincial capital.
Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime Provinces, and one of the four provinces that form Atlantic Canada. Its provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the second-smallest of Canada's ten provinces, with an area of 55,284 square kilometres (21,300 sq mi), including Cape Breton and another 3,800 coastal islands. As of 2016, the population was 923,598. Nova Scotia is Canada's second-most-densely populated province, after Prince Edward Island, with 17.4 inhabitants per square kilometre (45/sq mi).
It was founded in 1980 by John Chisholm, owner of Nova Construction Company Limited. [2] The company currently operates two open pit coal mines:
Open-pit, open-cast or open cut mining is a surface mining technique of extracting rock or minerals from the earth by their removal from an open pit or borrow.
- Stellarton Surface Coal Mine, located in Stellarton, Nova Scotia
- Point Aconi Surface Coal Mine, located in Point Aconi, Nova Scotia
The Stellarton Surface Coal Mine is an open pit reclamation coal mine located in Stellarton, Nova Scotia. It is owned and operated by Pioneer Coal Limited.
Point Aconi is a rural community in Nova Scotia at the northeastern tip of Boularderie Island. It derives its name from the headland of the same name, Point Aconi.
Both open pit mines are operated as reclamation mines in areas which used to have underground mining operations. After surface mining has been completed, the land is reclaimed for other uses. The Stellarton mine is slated to cease operating in 2019. [3]
Underground soft rock mining is a group of underground mining techniques used to extract coal, oil shale, potash and other minerals or geological materials from sedimentary ("soft") rocks. Because deposits in sedimentary rocks are commonly layered and relatively less hard, the mining methods used differ from those used to mine deposits in igneous or metamorphic rocks. Underground mining techniques also differ greatly from those of surface mining.
Mine reclamation is the process of restoring land that has been mined to a natural or economically usable state. Although the process of mine reclamation occurs once mining is completed, the planning of mine reclamation activities occurs prior to a mine being permitted or started. Mine reclamation creates useful landscapes that meet a variety of goals ranging from the restoration of productive ecosystems to the creation of industrial and municipal resources. In the United States, mine reclamation is a regular part of modern mining practices. Modern mine reclamation minimizes and mitigates the environmental effects of mining.
In 2014 the company began a feasibility study to evaluate an additional surface coal mine near Springhill, Nova Scotia. [4]
A mining feasibility study is an evaluation of a proposed mining project to determine whether the mineral resource can be mined economically. There are three types of feasibility study used in mining, order of magnitude, preliminary feasibility and detailed feasibility.
Springhill is a community located in central Cumberland County, Nova Scotia, Canada.
