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,Mackay, B.R. 1949. Coal areas of Alberta. Geological Survey of Canada, Atlas to accompany estimate of coal reserves for the Royal Commission on Coal. runs from south of the Wapiti River to the North Saskatchewan River. The Coalspur coal zone is about to thick.
Coal formations in what is now the province of Alberta, originated approximately 140 and 65 million years ago. The collision between the two immense plates had pushed up the Rocky Mountains while depressing the North American continent's interior. New layers of growth crushed and buried layers of peat, shale, and sandstone, compressing them into coal beds. The oldest coal deposits were pushed closer to the surface about 80 to 55 million years ago, forming part of the Rocky Mountains's foothills and Front Ranges.
In 2018, Alberta's coal production totalled approximately 20 million tonnes and accounted for $10 million in royalties for the province, according to Alberta Energy's Coal and Mineral Development Unit's "2018 Year in Review". In the fiscal year 2019-2020 coal represented $11.8 million or 0.2% of Alberta's total non-renewable resource revenue of $5.9 billion.
For many years, Alberta relied on coal for electricity for years. When the Alberta New Democratic Party came to power in 2015, they legislated an end to the use of coal for power by 2030. This target was met six years ahead of schedule, and the last coal power plant in Alberta closed on June 16, 2024.
Overview According to a 2023 Pembina Institute article, coal in Alberta had become a sunset industry as the province underwent a rapid transition from coal-fired power to renewable energy sources such as solar and wind. In January 2023, solar power exceeded coal-fired power on the electricity grid for over 2 hours, a milestone that will become more common as Alberta phases out coal by the end of 2023. For the first time in decades, Alberta's electricity grid went without any input from the two remaining coal plants (Genesee 1 and 2) for several brief periods in early 2024, signaling the beginning of the end for coal power in the province. All of Alberta's coal-fired power plants will have closed or been converted to natural gas by the end of 2023, seven years ahead of the original 2030 phase-out schedule set in 2015.
Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin
The International Journal of Coal Geology estimated that the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin (WCSB) contained 90% of Canada's usable coal resources, rank from lignite to semianthracite. The vast sedimentary basin underlies of Western Canada including Alberta, southwestern Manitoba, southern Saskatchewan, northeastern British Columbia and the southwest corner of the Northwest Territories. This massive wedge of sedimentary rock extends from the Rocky Mountains in the west to the Canadian Shield in the east. This wedge is about thick under the Rocky Mountains, but thins to zero at its eastern margins.
In 2005, Alberta Energy reported that approximately 36% of the total estimated 71,000 megatonnes of usable coal was bituminous, including a high proportion of medium to low volatile coals. Bituminous coal is used as coking feedstock because of its low sulfur content and acceptable ash levels. In 2005, most of the coal from the WCSB was exported to Japan, Korea and other countries due to a lack of heavy industry in the region. Canada consumes only a limited amount of the WCSB bituminous coal. The lower rank coals are used mainly for electricity generation, where the existence of shallow coal seams with little overburden make strip-mining and reclamation easy, and low sulfur levels reduce the environmental impact of their use.
History The Siksika —Blackfoot and the Kainai—Blood people, called the area now known as Lethbridge on the banks of the Oldman River—Sik-ooh-kotoki or "place of the black rocks."
In 1793, a British surveyor, Peter Fidler, working for the Hudson's Bay Company wrote about a seam of high-quality coal near the Red Deer River that he had used for heat.
Nicholas Sheran, an entrepreneur from New York City, opened a mine there on the west bank of Oldman River in 1874—making it the first commercial coal mine in Alberta. Sheran operated the mine until his death in 1882.
In the 1880s, Geological Survey of Canada's George Mercer Dawson, a surveyor and geologist, investigated and mapped potential coal and petroleum coal in western Canada, including Alberta. Dawson and was an influential advisor on the route of the Canadian Pacific Railway and on potential industries such as ranching, agriculture, lumber, and mining, including petroleum and coal—whose development he encouraged. His 1884 publication Descriptive Sketch of the Physical Geography and Geology of the Dominion of Canada on Canada's physiography, was the first of its kind.
Sir Alexander Galt, one of the fathers of the Canadian Confederation, and his son Elliott Torrance Galt—who was then the Assistant Indian Commissioner in southern Alberta—formed the North Western Coal and Navigation Company in 1882, to exploit coal resources in what is now southern Alberta with William Lethbridge as the company's largest shareholder and president. They hired a coal mine engineer and coal miners from Nova Scotia and developed a number of mines near present-day Lethbridge. By 1885, the rapidly growing community of Coalbanks was officially renamed Lethbridge. By 1889, Galt mines were producing 75,173 tonnes (82,864 tons).
The rich coal deposit developed by Galt and North Western Coal and Navigation Company, was one of the factors that resulted in the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway's (CPR) main line from Lethbridge through the Crowsnest Pass in 1897 and 1898. Coal was shipped by the CPR to Calgary, British Columbia, Winnipeg, and the northwestern United States. Other towns that formed at that time included Coaldale, Coalhurst, and Black Diamond, Alberta.
In 1886, Queen Victoria granted a coal mining charter to Canmore in 1886 and the first coal mine opened in 1887.
During the world war, Drumheller became one of Western Canada's largest coal producers.
When a coal miners' strike broke out in January 1948, threatening the provincial Electrical grid, as most electricity was generated from coal. Manning acted swiftly to avert the crisis. Rewriting the province's labour laws in March to allow the government to shut down the strike. Greatly weakened by charges of communism, and Manning's unwillingness to fold caused the unions to attempt to persuade legislators instead of protesting using strikes, or violence. Manning's steadfast defiance in the face of union threats halted the rise of militant unionism in Alberta. As it did in other areas like Quebec and the rust belt.
In 1976, the Progressive Conservative government under then Premier Peter Lougheed restricted open-pit mines in most of Alberta's Rocky Mountains and Foothills through the Coal Development Policy. The last open pit coal mine in Alberta's Livingstone Range closed in 1983.
Coal mining flourished into the 20th century but by the 1970s the market for oil decreased. In 1979, Canmore Mines Ltd discontinued operations.
In 2015, because of a "glut of both thermal and metallurgical coal", the global price of coal was low.
In 2016, there was a dramatic increase in the price of metallurgical coal to over US$300/tonne. This was the first time the price of coal had reached this peak since 2011. Investors showed renewed interest in the bituminous metallurgical coal mining in Alberta.
In 2016, then NDP Premier Rachel Notley announced the elimination of all coal-fired power stations in the province by 2030.
Coal mines closed in the Crowsnest Pass, Canmore, Nordegg, and Grande Cache, among others.
By 2020, coal-fired power stations in operation in Alberta included the Battle River, Genesee, H.R. Milner, Keephills, Sheerness, and Sundance stations.
According to Alberta Energy's 2018 ' Review, there was an increase in bituminous coal mining activity following a decrease for several years. In 2018, mining operations have restarted, new greenfield operations began, and new mining projects were proposed. According to the Review two major factors contributed to the increase in coal mining activity−an increase in global coal prices and recent improvements in thermal coal.
By 2019, the Grande Cache mine reopened.
In the fiscal year 2019-2020 coal represented $11.8 million or 0.2% of Alberta's total non-renewable resource revenue of $5.9 billion.
On 1 June 2020, Premier Jason Kenney rescinded the 1976 Coal Policy and lifted the restrictions on coal mining exploration and development on 3 of the 4 categories of land based on environmental sensitivity. The UCP's new policy would only protect Category 1 land from coal mining exploration and development. Included in Category 2 which are lands that are "moderately to highly environmentally sensitive" is Mount Livingstone Range. According to Alberta Views, global investors—mainly from Australia—are interested in the region and are following the review process closely.
Coal mines in Alberta Mining operations in Alberta produce lower and higher ranked coal. High-ranked coals include bituminous coal and the highest rank of coal anthracite or hard coals. Low ranked coals include lignite and sub-bituminous coal. Lignite, which is also referred to as brown coal—is the lowest rank of coal. Lignite, which is the most harmful coal to human health, is almost exclusively used as a fuel for steam-electric power generation.
In Alberta, most of the coal produced is metallurgical coal, which is used for steelmaking, not in electricity generation. Metallurgical coal, which is also referred to as coking coal, is a higher ranking coal used to produce coke. Because it is essential to the steelmaking process, and at present there is no other alternative, metallurgical coal and steel are coupled in the demand chain.Reed Moyer, Competition in the Midwestern Coal Industry, Harvard University Press, 1964 , page 56, pages 85-86 Alberta's metallurgical coal is exported to Asian countries—particularly Japan—for steelmaking.
Thermal coal is the solid fuel burned in coal-fired power stations or thermal power stations in electricity generation. Concerns have been raised about air pollution caused by coal-fired power stations.
An October 2022 study by Alberta Environment and Protected Areas' senior scientists said that a remote lake in southern Alberta's mountainous areaWindow Mountain Lakecontained mountaintop removal coal mines dust that contaminated the previously pristine lake "to the point where its waters [were] as contaminated as lakes downwind from the oil sands."