Vancouver-based Compliance Energy Corp. has withdrawn at the last minute from an environmental screening for its proposed underground coal mine in the Comox Valley. The company’s withdrawal came just as the B.C. Environmental Assessment Office was to make a ruling.
While Compliance said it is withdrawing because of “misinformation” circulating about the project, low coal prices — matched by the company’s low stock value — suggest it could be having trouble financing the project. The Environmental Assessment Office was to rule Monday on whether the Raven coal mine proposal met the conditions to proceed to a full review and public hearing.
The Vancouver Island chapter of the Wilderness Committee has vigorously opposed the project. “The letter that they submitted and their withdrawal really took us by surprise,” said Wilderness Committee campaigner Torrance Coste.
The first application was made in 2013. But the Environmental Assessment Office ruled Compliance failed to meet requirements of a screening and the company had to file a second application. “There were hundreds of points of information missing,” Coste said.
A spokesperson for Compliance could not be reached to explain why the application was withdrawn at the last minute.
However, in a letter to the Environmental Assessment Office, the company complained about “misinformation” being spread about the project. “We received some misinformation that is circulating in some communities regarding the Raven Coal Project and believe it is appropriate that we withdraw the project from the screening process at this time,” Stephen Ellis, the company’s president, said in the letter.
Ellis said he thinks the coal mine will be developed and Compliance had already spent $20 million on the environmental evaluation of the project.
Opponents of the project, including Coal Watch Comox Valley, say they’re worried it would damage ground water and air quality, and hurt the shellfish industry in nearby Baynes Sound. Compliance has said its Raven project would not pollute Baynes Sound or damage ground water. Coal dust would not blow into the air and into the ocean because processing facilities would be covered.
The Raven coal mine would produce thermal and metallurgical coal, which have both suffered from a global glut and drastic price drop. Several coal mines have been shut down because of the price drop.
Compliance’s stock mirrors those price drops. In May 2013, Compliance Energy’s stock fell below five cents per share — the point that typically would trigger a delisting review — and has since fallen to two cents per share.
The Venture exchange has temporarily relaxed rules on delisting. Several hundred junior miners on the exchange are not meeting listing requirements.
