Name: Teck Fording River Operations (FRO).

Location: FRO is located about 29 km north-east of Elkford, in south-eastern British Columbia, Canada.

Holding and Controlling Company: Teck Resources.

Brief Description: Fording River produces steelmaking coal. Teck exports the processed coal by sea to the Asia-Pacific region and elsewhere, which involves the shipment of the steelmaking coal from the mine site to bulk port terminals in Vancouver by rail, for loading on to seagoing vessels that carry it to target markets

Brief History: FRO was established in 1968 as the primary asset of Fording Coal, owned 60% by Canadian Pacific Investments and 40% by Consolidated Mining and Smelting of Canada (Cominco). Canadian Pacific acquired Cominco’s share in 1986. It started production in 1971 and made its first coal shipment in 1972.

The operation then went through various stages of ownership, lastly becoming Teck-owned in 2008.  

Mining operations were gradually moved to Eagle Mountain in the early 1980s, which became the primary source of raw coal through to today. Mining by truck/shovel has generally been the sole method of exposing coal.

Products: Steelmaking coal, or metallurgical or coking coal.

Geology/Mineralisation: The regional geology of south-eastern British Columbia has been the subject of numerous geological studies, including coal, oil and gas exploration, and it is reasonably well understood.

The East Kootenay coalfields comprise the Flathead, Crowsnest and Elk Valley coalfields, extending from the Montana border northward. The Fording River property is situated within the frontal range of the southern Canadian Rocky Mountains, within the central and northern sections of the Elk Valley coalfield.

The coal measures of FRO are contained in the Mist mountain formation of the upper Jurassic to lower Cretaceous age Kootenay Group (deposited 120-million to 150-million years ago). Interbedded sandstone, siltstone, mudstone and coal seams were deposited throughout this period.

The Mist mountain formation is about 600 m thick at Fording River Operations. Subsequent to deposition, the sediments were impacted by the mountain-building movements of the late Cretaceous to early Tertiary Laramide Orogeny, which produced the structural features that currently dominate the area.

The Elk Valley coalfield (including FRO coal measures) is structurally contained within the Lewis thrust sheet, bounded to the west and east by the Bourgeau and Lewis thrust faults respectively. At FRO, northerly trending thrust faults associated with the tectonic movements have resulted in repeating of all or parts of the coal sequence, including whole blocks of the coal-bearing Mist mountain formation. Subsequent northerly trending normal faults have also displaced and further divided the sequence.

Economically, the Mist mountain formation is the most important formation of the Kootenay Group. The formation contains coal seams up to 18 m thick. The coal rank varies from low-volatile bituminous in the lower part of the formation to medium and high-volatile bituminous in the upper part of the formation.

Reserves: Total proven and probable reserves of metallurgical coal as at December 31, 2017, were estimated at 382.5-million tonnes.

Resources: Total measured metallurgical coal as at December 31, 2017, was estimated at 430.5-million tonnes.

Total indicated metallurgical coal as at December 31, 2017, was estimated at 938.2-million tonnes.

Total inferred metallurgical coal as at December 31, 2017, was estimated at 787.8-million tonnes.

Mining Method: Openpit truck and shovel

Major Infrastructure and Equipment: Coal mining activity has been ongoing in the area for over 100 years, and the infrastructure is quite well developed, including all-weather roads and rail service. 

Most of the coal product from FRO is transported 1 150 km by rail to either Westshore Terminals or Neptune Bulk Terminals, in Vancouver, British Columbia and from there to international customers by cargo vessel.

Goods to the minesite are delivered primarily by transport trucks and occasionally rail.

Power to the site is supplied by BC Hydro using the BC & Alberta link, known as the Kan-Elk line.

Key on-site infrastructure at FRO includes the raw coal stockpiles; a coal processing plant; rail load-out facilities; administrative, engineering and maintenance buildings; a mine dry facility; a powder magazine; and bulk explosive storage facilities.

Prospects: Mining in the Swift area at Fording River started in the first quarter of 2017 and the project is expected to sustain the operations’ current production levels in the future. Further mine development is expected to continue until 2022.

Contact Details:

Teck

Tel 604.699.4000

Website https://www.teck.com/