Wolverine Coal Mine

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Wolverine Coal Mine is an operating coal mine in Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia, Canada.

Location

Table 1: Project-level location details

Mine Name	Location	Coordinates (WGS 84)
Wolverine Coal Mine	Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia, Canada	55.0608535, -121.2530692 (exact)

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

Loading map...

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Project Details

Table 2: Project status

Status	Status Detail	Opening Year	Closing Year
Operating	–	2006	–

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
3	1.013	2022	Surface	Open Pit	10.47	60*	325

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
8.8	–	–	Peace River	Bituminous	Met	–

Table 5: Ownership and parent company

Owner	Parent Company	Headquarters
ERP Compliant Fuels	ERP Compliant Fuels	USA

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

ROM or Saleable	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
ROM	1.14	1.2	1.2	1.4	1.1	1.013	2.2

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

Background

Wolverine mine is a surface mine, owned and operated by Conuma Resources (a subsidiary of West Virginia-based ERP Compliant Fuels), near Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia, Canada. The mine began operations in 2005 under the ownership of Western Canadian Coal Corporation, a subsidiary of Walter Energy. It went into care and maintenance in April 2014, due to low coal prices.

In September 2016, Conuma Coal Resources Ltd. purchased Wolverine from Western Canadian Coal Corp., and the mine re-opened in January 2017. In 2019, Conuma posted on its website that the mine produces over 1.5 million tons of coal per year.

Mothballing

Due to its mineable deposits becoming exhausted, operations at the Wolverine mine reportedly began winding down in 2024. According to the British Columbia Ministry of Mining and Critical Minerals, the mine was placed on care and maintenance in April 2024.

Mine Expansion

As of April 2024, Wolverine's Perry Creek pit has exhausted its coal resources, and Conuma is proposing to develop the Hermann Pit.

This project, known as the Wolverine-Hermann Amendment Project, would produce an additional 1 million tonnes for the next ten years.

The Hermann Pit will provide coal for the continued operation of the Wolverine Coal Processing Plant; Wolverine Mine operations employees will be transferred from the Perry Creek Pit to the Hermann Pit. It would will allow for the continued direct employment of over 300 employees and 1000 indirect jobs for families in the Peace River area.

Like the Perry Creek Pit, the Hermann Pit would produce coal by open-pit mining methods and has the potential to produce approximately 9 million tons of metallurgical coal for sale in the export market. Coal from the Hermann Pit would be transported to Wolverine via the coal haul route, processed at the Wolverine processing plant, and shipped to market by rail from the Wolverine loadout facility.

While the project's initial environmental assessment received provincial approval in 2012, and a five-year extension was granted in 2013, the project was not substantially started, and the Environmental Assessment Certificate expired in 2018.

Conuma has requested several amendments to the Wolverine Mine Environmental Assessment Certificate, including one in 2018 to add an additional open pit (the Hermann pit) and transport Hermann coal to the Wolverine Mine site for processing, and another in 2020 to allow for early work site preparation activities at the undeveloped Hermann mine site, both of which were granted. Since then, there have been few public updates regarding the Hermann pit project.

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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.