Crowsnest Pass sign -- LNN

By Connor Gunn

Crowsnest Pass holding “Grassy Mountain Mine Concerned Citizens Meeting” July 22

Jul 20, 2021 | 12:44 PM

CROWSNEST PASS, AB – Many locals in the area of the Crownest Pass are “in support of fair treatment of the Riversdale Mine proposal.”

Due to the concern, a meeting will be held.

At 7 pm on Thursday, July 22, the Hillcrest Miners Club is hosting the meeting to give people a voice on how the proposed mine project being stopped would affect them.

The hosted meeting comes after a Joint review Panel assessing Benga Mining Limited’s Grassy Mountain Coal Project concluded its review and recommended the project to be stopped.

There will be multiple speakers including Guy Gilron from RPBio MSc Borealis Environmental Consulting, impact statements from locals, and anyone wishing to speak on the matter.

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Doors open for the meeting at 6:30 pm and the meeting will start at 7 pm “sharp.”

Image of flyer for the event

In June, the review panel noted that the mine would have the following impacts if it were to go ahead.

• Significant adverse environmental effects on surface water quality, west slope cutthroat trout and its habitat, whitebark pine, rough fescue grasslands, and vegetation species and community biodiversity; and
• Significant adverse effects on the physical and cultural heritage of some First Nations.

The panel determined that the “adverse environmental effects on surface water quality and west slope cutthroat trout and its habitat” would outweigh the positive economic impacts of the project and the project is “not in the public interest.”

In a joint statement from Energy Minister Sonya Savage and Environment and Parks Minister Jason Nixon issued Thursday, the two respect the recommendations given.

“The Alberta government respects the Joint Review Panel’s recommendation, which is the result of a rigorous review process carried out by the Alberta Energy Regulator and the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada.” The panel then denied Benga’s applications under the Coal Conservation Act and related applications under the Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act, Water Act, and Public Lands Act.

More about the Project:

“Benga Mining Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Riversdale Resources Limited, proposed to construct and operate an open-pit metallurgical coal mine near the Crowsnest Pass, approximately seven kilometres north of the community of Blairmore, in southwest Alberta. As proposed, the production capacity of the project would have been a maximum of 4.5 million tonnes of metallurgical coal per year over an operating mine-life of about 23 years,” the Alberta government release reads.