Day 5 Coal

Day 5 Coal 

The SMA mining tour has been an incredible adventure and learning experience.

We learned about coal mining in Saskatchewan; specifically the technique of strip mining. We were fortunate to learn this by going to Westmoreland’s Poplar River coal mining operation near the communities of Willow Bunch and Coronach in southern Saskatchewan near the border between Canada and the USA.

We began this section of our tour by going to Willow Bunch where we had a Non-Employee Safety Orientation. This was led by a team of 7 young mining professionals. The Poplar River operation is owned and operated by Westmoreland Coal Company which has its headquarters in Denver, Colorado, USA. 

The company’s team was incredibly knowledgeable and led us through: Health and Safety, Westmoreland Coal Operations, Environmental Impact Assessment, Environmental Commitments, Environment Monitoring, Lignite Coal, and Careers in coal mining. This was very informative.

The second part of the coal mining tour took us through Coronach and to the Poplar River mining operations site. Here we were led by a team of young energetic staff members. We were taken through the shop where there were huge machines, namely a scraper and hauler which were being maintained. Other machinery was there as well including a spare generator (also extremely large with multiple pieces), cable for the drag-line, tools, parts, and a wash bay. We had hands on opportunities while in the shop to climb onto and go into a hauler.

On route to the coal pits, we stopped to see a massive electric shovel that had just been moved recently 5 km from the pits by 2 haulers pulling it. It is being decommissioned and or sold. Also we stopped to see a massive drag-line bucket that was on the roadside, ready to haul to the shop for maintenance. 

We visited 2 coal mining sites. The first site we visited #6 pit had a dragline machine that wasn’t operational at the time; loaders and haulers were busy there moving the coal. It was a very impressive scene. The loaders were mixing coal from piles near us that were a lower grade coal; loose with fine particles with those from piles a few hundred metres away that were denser and chunkier. The haulers left the site to take to the railway site for deposition and delivery.

The scale of the operations was incredible. We stood between 2 high cliffs; one refilled with coversoil getting ready to be reclaimed and another ready for extraction. Between the piles of coal dust flew swirling because of the lower quality lignite. 

The second site we visited, #8 pit, was in full operation when we arrived. The massive dragline Great Gus towered above the pit moving coversoil in quick scoops, while the loaders and haulers came and went with the coal. This site had a much higher quality of lignite coal and was in bigger chunks and blocks. Along the face of the pit the layers were clearly distinguishable. While on site, we all were able to fill our plastic bags with coal samples. We were standing on an area recently cleared of coal and near piles of the product. The clay layer under us contained pyrite housed in clay pellets, which we happily collected. There was plenty of time to look at the seam at the coal wall and we saw fossil evidence, and in one particular coal piece we saw evidence of a tree with the rings that were still visible.

The third leg of our coal mining tour in Poplar River took us to an area that houses the final stage to operations at Poplar River mining site. It includes: a hopper, storage, reserve area, conveyer system, silo and railway. Here the haulers bring in their loads and dump the coal into hoppers that crush the coal and drop it into a storage tank. There is a huge pile of coal reserves adjacent to this hopper. Attached to the hopper is a conveyer system that will bring the contents of the storage tank up a track, through a silo to a waiting rail car. The silo has an office on the second level that has a high tech computer system to monitor the deposits in the hopper, as well as the other mining areas at the site.  When the underground storage unit is full, the train makes its way from the power plant (20 km’s away) and fills the cars in approximately 25 minutes and takes the coal directly to the power plant. The power plant is specifically designed to burn this type of lignite coal.

Reclamation of the land after the coal has been extracted is a very important step in the operation of a coal mine. As the coal is scraped out of the strip, the dragline will fill the empty seam with coversoil from the adjacent strip.  These strips are approximately 55m wide,  20-52m deep and run for about 4 km’s. The coal seam under the coversoil is about 4m thick. The dragline works continuously filling the strips. There is no waste product or tailings in coal mining. The land is put back to a productive state within a few years of extraction.

In closing, the coal mining tour was a great learning experience. Learning about coal and mining are integral parts to Science and Social Studies Saskatchewan curriculums K-12. It is valuable to have knowledge of the process of coal extraction as well as its use in producing over 50% of our baseload electricity in Saskatchewan. Coal is important to our economy in Saskatchewan and throughout Canada and the world.

Coal – Day 5 – Kim Nicholls

As one of the few non-science specialists on this Geoventure tour, I have found it incredibly informative and it has stretched my non-science brain to the limit.  After days of learning about processes that involve some very advanced chemistry and terms like slurry, precipitate and KCl, I was happy to see what believed to be a simple and easy to understand system.  On paper, the Poplar River coal operation is simple:  Remove the cover soil, remove the overburden, dig out the coal and move on.  However, this simplistic schematic does nothing to convey the scale and the complexity of the operation.  To begin with, the scale of the machinery is enormous.  The 120 ton haulers have tires that are nearly 8 feet high.  These haulers also require a ladder to reach the cab.  Great Gus, the dragline, has a bucket capable of moving enough soil to dig a basement in one and a half scoops.  A single link on the chain weighs hundreds of pounds.  The men and women running these machines are skilled operators who make the system work like clockwork.  The really remarkable thing about this mine happens when the coal has been hauled and burned and used.  This is when the reclamation of the land begins.  Within a few years of the finishing of a pit, it becomes impossible to tell where the pit was.  The overburden is replaced.  The cover soil is replaced and the land is contoured to match the surrounding areas.  We saw mule deer and ducks and the land is so natural that it is hard to believe that a mine exists there.  In my mind, this is the true genius of this mine.  I was impressed by the commitment that Westmoreland Coal has to the environment.  They are able to virtually erase their footprint.

I will be teaching Energy and Mines 30 this fall and I will be using everything I learned on this trip in my classroom.  There are many things that I didn’t realize before we left.  One of the most important things is that there a breadth of jobs in the mining industry that I never realized before.  It is not about brute force, but it is a highly skilled field that requires many types of workers.  I have also learned that all the mining companies are deeply committed to the environment and to safety.  These elements are going to form an important part of my course.  I will be encouraging everyone I know to apply for this course.  The resources that the Saskatchewan Mining Association has available to the teachers of this province are unparalleled and have proven to be an invaluable resource for me and for everyone on this trip.