Grande Cache Coal Mine

This article is part of the Global Coal Mine Tracker, a project of Global Energy Monitor.

Download full dataset

Report an error

Sub-articles:

Global coal mines Coal mines in China Coal mines in India Coal mines in the United States Coal mines in Australia Coal mines in Russia Coal mines in Indonesia

Related-articles:

Largest coal mines in the world Coal mine impacts from Covid-19 Environmental issues of coal Coal mining Coal reserves Coal terminals

Grande Cache Coal Mine is an operating coal mine in Alberta, Canada.

Location

Table 1: Project-level location details

Mine Name	Location	Coordinates (WGS 84)
Grande Cache Coal Mine	Alberta, Canada	53.8855715, -119.1222671 (approximate)

The map below shows the approximate location of the coal mine:

Loading map...

{"type":"ROADMAP","minzoom":false,"maxzoom":false,"types":["ROADMAP","SATELLITE","HYBRID","TERRAIN"],"mappingservice":"googlemaps3","width":"600px","height":"500px","centre":false,"title":"","label":"","icon":"","lines":[],"polygons":[],"circles":[],"rectangles":[],"copycoords":false,"static":false,"visitedicon":"","wmsoverlay":false,"zoom":7,"layers":[],"controls":["pan","zoom","type","scale","streetview","rotate"],"zoomstyle":"DEFAULT","typestyle":"DEFAULT","autoinfowindows":false,"resizable":false,"kmlrezoom":false,"poi":true,"cluster":false,"clustergridsize":60,"clustermaxzoom":20,"clusterzoomonclick":true,"clusteraveragecenter":true,"clusterminsize":2,"imageoverlays":[],"kml":[],"gkml":[],"searchmarkers":"","fullscreen":false,"scrollwheelzoom":false,"locations":[{"text":"","title":"","link":"","lat":53.8855715,"lon":-119.1222671,"icon":"","inlineLabel":"Operating Mine\n"}]}

Project Details

Table 2: Project status

Status	Status Detail	Opening Year	Closing Year
Operating	–	–	–

Table 3: Operation details

Note: The asterisk (*) signifies that the value is a GEM estimated figure.

Capacity (Mtpa)	Production (Mtpa)	Year of Production	Mine Type	Mining Method	Mine Size (km2)	Mine Depth (m)	Workforce Size
–	1.3	2022	Surface	Open Pit	–	60*	302*

Table 4: Coal resources and destination

Total Reserves (Mt)	Year of Total Reserves Recorded	Total Resources (Mt)	Coalfield	Coal Type	Coal Grade	Primary Consumer/ Destination
9.4	–	658.7	–	Bituminous	Met	–

Table 5: Ownership and parent company

Owner	Parent Company	Headquarters
CST Group	CST Group [100%]	Canada

Table 6: Historical production (unit: million tonnes per annum)

ROM or Saleable	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
ROM	–	0	1	0	0	0	1

Note: The above section was automatically generated and is based on data from the Global Coal Mine Tracker April 2024 release and the September supplement.

Background

The Grande Cache Mine is a surface coal mine located near the town of Grande Cache in Western Alberta, Canada. Originally owned by Grande Cache Coal (GCC), the No. 7 Underground Operation has been in production since the fall of 2004, and the No. 8 Surface Pit went into production in the summer of 2010. In December of 2009, GCC announced plans for a strategic expansion to increase the annual "clean coal" production to a rate of 3.5 million tonnes of coal by March 31, 2013. On Nov. 1, 2011, China’s Winsway Coking Coal Holdings Ltd. and Japan’s Marubeni Corp. agreed to acquire Grande Cache Coal Corp. for about C$1 billion ($1 billion). GCC has received the amended mine permit and a new mine licence from the Energy Resources Conservation Board (ERCB) necessary to commence development of its new No. 12 South B2 underground operation. The No. 12 South B2 underground operation has an estimated resource base of 11.6 million tonnes and coal production is estimated to commence during the third quarter of fiscal 2012, which begins October 1, 2011. Grande Cache Coal has one additional permit and license application in progress, referred to as No. 12 South A Surface Pit.

The mine closed in 2015 due to low coal prices. Grande Cache Coal went into receivership in January 2017 after its Chinese owner defaulted on paying off a debt of roughly $500 million. In January 2018, the mine’s receiver Deloitte, LLP went before an Alberta Court seeking approval to sell the mine to a new buyer. The mine announced on its website that the court approved the sale of GCC’s assets to SonicField Global Limited on January 8, 2018, with a view to closing a transaction by the end of May 2018. The underground mine remains closed, but surface mining production at Grande Cache restarted in August 2018 after the deal closed in May.

Grande Cache closed again in May 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The closure was described by the current owners, CST Group Ltd., as temporary, however, no timeline for a possible reopening was given. As of June 2022, it remains closed/mothballed.

As of October 2021, mining operations at Grande Cache Mine have resumed.

• Owner: CST Canada Coal Limited
• Parent company: SonicField Global Limited
• Location: Grande Cache, Alberta, Canada
• GPS coordinates: 53.885122,-119.1430276 (approximate)
• Mine status: Operating
• Start year: 2004
• Mineable reserves: 586.9 million tons
• Coal type:
• Mine size:
• Mine type: Surface
• Production: 100,000 tons per year
• Additional proposed production:
• Equipment: Open pit mining and room and pillar mining
• Number of employees: 200

Articles and Resources

Additional data

To access additional data, including an interactive map of world coal mines, a downloadable dataset, and summary data, please visit the Global Coal Mine Tracker on the Global Energy Monitor website.