Sheerness — a new coal mine for Alberta

CIM Bulletin, Vol. 90, No. 1009, 1997

Keith Haddock, Forestburg Collieries (1984) Ltd., Forestburg, Alberta

The Sheerness Mine, a new surface coal mine located near Hanna, Alberta, went into full production in mid-1995. The mine, which is operated by Luscar’s subsidiary Forestburg Collieries (1984) Ltd., has the design capacity to supply up to 2.1 million tonnes of sub-bituminous coal per year to the adjacent Sheerness Generating station under a 30-year contract. This paper documents the construction phase of this project and highlights the major equipment purchases as well as the construction of the mine facilities. The paper also focuses on some of the areas where cost savings have been achieved that have allowed the mine to come on stream six months ahead of schedule, and under budget.

Mots Clés: Bitumen, Coal mining, Draglines, Equipment, Mine planning, Sub-bituminous coal, Surface mining.