Coal mining in Saskatchewan
Coal has been mined in Saskatchewan ever since the 1850s when it was used as a source of heat for the early Pioneers in the treeless Great Plains. Today, coal is still mined in Saskatchewan, but it is primarily used to generate electricity. History In 1857, John Palliser found coal during his expeditions across southern Saskatchewan. The first farmers in southern Saskatchewan also noticed this coal and burning it for heat. During this period, there were no commercial mines; instead farmers would collect coal from exposed seams on the edges of riverbanks and hillsides, or dig small, shallow "gopher hole" mines in their own fields. By the 1870s, the first commercial coal mines were dug underground along the banks of Willow Bunch Lake. This coal was used for heating, and also for industrial purposes. Underground mines were used in Saskatchewan until 1956. Most of the underground mines were abandoned after their closures, and the numbers of abandoned mines are estimated at 100 around Estevan, 200 around Wood Mountain, and 60 around Shaunavon. In 1882, the first coal exports from Saskatchewan occurred. Coal from Roche Percee was loaded onto barges on the Souris River, and was sent to Winnipeg to be sold. In 1892, a Soo Line rail spur was built to the coalfields near Estevan which allowed coal to be shipped by rail. In 1927, the first strip mine was dug in Saskatchewan. Strip mining is the only type of coal mining that still takes place in Saskatchewan today, and occurs mainly in the Estevan area, and to a lesser extent in the Willow Bunch / Wood Mountain areas. Coal use in Saskatchewan accelerated once it started being used for electricity generation. In 1928, Dominion Electric purchased Estevan Generating Station (EGS) from the municipality and by 1930, they had converted it into a coal-fired facility. The facility was purchased by SaskPower in 1946, and became SaskPower's first major coal power plant. By 1957, the generating capacity of EGS was 70 MW. Between the 1960s and the 1990s, SaskPower built three more coal-fired power plants: Boundary Dam, Poplar River, and Shand. In 1960, Manitoba Hydro installed two generating units in Selkirk that burned Saskatchewan Lignite, and between 1957 and 1970, they installed five more units in Brandon that burned Saskatchewan Lignite. In 1981 and 1982, Ontario Hydro built two new coal units on their Thunder Bay Generating Station that burned primarily Saskatchewan Lignite, with some sub-bituminous coal mixed in from either Alberta or Wyoming. In 1985, Ontario Hydro built their Atikokan Generating Station, which also burned mainly Saskatchewan Lignite plus a small amount of Alberta or Wyoming sub-bituminous coal. Today, Ontario has ceased operation of almost all their coal facilities, Manitoba only has one remaining coal facility and it only runs under emergency conditions, and SaskPower has decommissioned the Estevan Generating Station and two of the six generating units at Boundary Dam. Saskatchewan coal production peaked in 1988 at approximately 12 million tonnes, and production is expected to continue falling until