John Snyder, Alberni Valley Times, November 03, 2010

Re: "Article offers accurate and balanced coverage," (Alberni Valley Times, Oct. 25)

In a recent letter to the editor, John Tapics, CEO of the Raven Underground Coal Project, states that people deserve accurate information about the proposed project. He goes on to say that technical studies confirm 100% of the coal at the Raven Project is metallurgical and 88% of the processed coal will be suitable to sell to steel companies for steel making.

Sounds pretty good, right?

Now here's the confusing part. In an Oct. 7 press release, Compliance Energy Corporation announced its pre-feasibility study results for the Raven Project: out of the total raw coal mined, the average wash plant yield was estimated at 44%. This is the saleable product of coal after it has been processed and washed. Of that saleable product, an average 88% semi-soft metallurgical coal and 12% thermal middlings product will be produced over the mine life.

So here's how it looks to me. The raw Raven coal can be described as 38% low quality metallurgical coal, 6% thermal coal, and 56% non-saleable garbage that will be disposed of on the surface at the mine site.

Something doesn't add up here in the figures provided by Compliance and John Tapics. On one hand there's the claim that 100% of the Raven Project coal is metallurgical, and on the other hand, the PFS states that only 44% of the raw coal mined is saleable and the other 56% is non-saleable waste.

I'm left scratching my head and wondering which of these claims is accurate.

John Snyder
President CoalWatch Comox Valley Society

© Alberni Valley Times 2010

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