Western Standard - ALBERTA REPORT： Let's get coal rolling.

00:00:00.000 Welcome and thank you for joining me today. My name is James Finkbeiner and this is the Alberta

00:00:15.180 Report. Alberta has a long history of coal mining stretching back to the 1870s and just like our

00:00:21.160 history with oil and gas, coal mining has been one of the pillars that built our beautiful

00:00:25.520 province. Drumheller, Black Diamond, Coaldale, Colehurst and Coal Banks or modern-day Lethbridge

00:00:32.880 all owe part of their beginnings to coal mining. These days, coal development in Alberta has been

00:00:38.660 a hot-button issue. In 2020, Jason Kenney's United Conservative Party rescinded Peter Loughey's 1976

00:00:45.400 coal policy that severely limited coal development in the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains.

00:00:50.660 This move saw dozens of applications for new mining across the area. After an intense public

00:00:56.720 backlash, primarily driven by activists and misinformation, the policy was put back in

00:01:01.980 place, grinding all progress on new development to a halt. One project at the center of the

00:01:07.640 controversy is Northback's Grassy Mountain Coal Project and here to speak with me today about

00:01:13.740 this project is Northback's CEO, Mike Young. Mike, welcome to the show. Thank you very much for having

00:01:19.620 me. Why is this project good for Alberta? Well, it's good for Alberta in lots of ways. It's a

00:01:26.640 resource development project. So Alberta is a resource province. It makes its money primarily from

00:01:31.680 both food, agriculture, oil and gas and coal. So it's just another resource project in the province.

00:01:40.600 But it's particularly good for southern Alberta and particularly the Crowsnest Pass because they don't

00:01:44.480 have a lot of industry down there. Crowsnest is one of the poorest municipalities in Alberta. Most of

00:01:50.700 their revenue is generated through property taxes. They don't have any big industries. So it'd be very

00:01:56.980 good for the local economy. It'd be very good for the First Nations people, a Blackfoot tribe. Down there

00:02:02.500 that's closest is Begani. They're part of the Blackfoot Nation. There's also Siksika in the Guyana.

00:02:08.000 And so it'd be good for them as well. They're going through some hard times at the moment. Part of that is

00:02:12.400 because there's just no opportunities. Yeah. So now this mine in this specific area,

00:02:18.620 this isn't a new mine, is it? There's already a mine on this location. Yeah, that's correct. So

00:02:23.740 Crowsnest Pass has a huge history of coal mining. And, you know, underground, it's, there's, you know,

00:02:29.480 several, several municipalities, not municipalities, but several towns stretched out along a long

00:02:34.700 corridor. And they're all coal towns. And Grassy Mountain itself is the northern end of a mine

00:02:40.660 called Green Hills. And when you go through grass, go through Crowsnest, as a lot of people do,

00:02:46.180 next to the golf course, you'll see some old mine infrastructure. And that was part of

00:02:49.360 this Green Hills mine. And to the north of it was Grassy. And they mined it a little bit underground.

00:02:53.700 And then in the 50s and 60s, they mined as an open pit. And what they basically did was

00:02:58.780 up the crest of the mountain, they did a small pit. They didn't go very deep because the technology at the

00:03:03.860 time wouldn't allow it and the coal price didn't allow it. So it got closed in about 1969, we think.

00:03:11.200 And then after that, the owners of the mine logged the area to the east. So it was logged.

00:03:16.220 So, you know, together with the mining that was done, you know, and back then there was no such

00:03:20.900 thing as reclamation, they just sort of dump stuff on the side of the hill and left. That and the

00:03:26.200 logging, it's a pretty disturbed area.

00:03:28.900 So isn't part of this project also reclamation on the mine that's already there?

00:03:34.520 Yeah, that's certainly one of the things that our stakeholders want to see is they want to see

00:03:38.660 that mine cleaned up. So there's been some trees have grown back, but by and large, there's just a

00:03:44.360 lot of waste piles on the side of the hill. It's quite dangerous. There's a lot of openings. There's

00:03:48.620 old mine openings from underground and on surface. When they abandoned the operation, they didn't

00:03:54.160 clean it up. They didn't, they made some safety things by just putting up, you know, barriers to

00:03:58.800 entry. But by and large, there was no reclamation whatsoever. And so certainly the First Nations

00:04:04.700 would like to be able to use the land again. Recreationists would like to be able to use the

00:04:09.080 land. And so as part of a modern mining process, we would go through and clean up the mess.

00:04:14.400 So you'd be able to go in, clean up what was already there, and then kind of the reward for

00:04:18.960 going in, cleaning up this project would be being able to mine it again and kind of take care of the

00:04:25.100 area. Yeah, it'd be one of the, you know, you call them fringe benefits. So that would certainly be

00:04:29.140 the case. And, you know, we had a person come to site who works for an NGO. We brought her up onto

00:04:34.980 the mountain and we, we actually have a policy of inviting anyone that wants to come and see it up

00:04:39.160 the mountain. So, you know, your, your viewers could certainly reach out to us to do that. So we brought

00:04:45.060 this person up the mountain and, and firstly, they were amazed that the lakes that are still left

00:04:50.700 behind, aren't these steaming cauldrons of boiling, bubbling, acidic water. They're actually

00:04:54.700 quite good water. But she also remarked that, you know, plants were able to grow back on their own.

00:05:01.440 And would it be the case if we were actually doing planned reclamation, if it would be a better

00:05:05.860 outcome? And we said, absolutely. And, you know, she gave us some other suggestions. And when she did

00:05:11.880 that, one of the things she asked about was, you know, are you going to build wildlife corridors and

00:05:16.560 refuges? And we said, yeah, that's something we'd really like to do. So it, you know, yes, it's mining and

00:05:22.780 yes, it's disruptive. But at the end, it would be modern reclamation. And in the end, it would be

00:05:28.280 better, better land use for the stakeholders in the area. So right now, it's not in great shape.

00:05:34.020 But Albertans are fairly familiar with reclamation projects, like specifically in the oil sands,

00:05:38.900 we've seen areas that were completely strip mined, returned back into boreal forest and productive

00:05:44.840 wetlands again. So we would actually, so you're saying the same type of reclamation that would be

00:05:51.400 planned and, and thought out for the entirety of the project, this whole area in the end would be

00:05:57.740 in a better space than what it is right now. Yeah, eventually over time. I mean, we make no,

00:06:02.780 no, we don't hide the fact that it's going to be a mine. But one of the things we can do is the way

00:06:07.700 we want to mine is you can progressively reclimate as you go. So you start reclamation at the south end

00:06:12.420 where we would start mining. And then as you move forward, reclimate. And one of the things we're

00:06:16.620 really proud of is that our, the new designs that we're assessing will have much lower impact than

00:06:22.480 previous designs. And also, we intend on putting a lot of the waste rock material back into the pits.

00:06:29.020 And that was something that a lot of people try to do. And we're being very deliberate in the mine

00:06:33.800 planning and how we do that. So we'd like to reclimate as we go. There's a lot of concerns. And, you know,

00:06:39.480 it's historically people have walked away from their commitments, but we don't, we won't do that.

00:06:45.920 People are concerned that you'll walk away from it afterwards. But if you're progressively

00:06:49.400 reclamating, not only are you reducing that liability at the end of the mine, but you're

00:06:54.220 proving to people your bona fides that you're going to follow through. Yeah, well, that would be the same

00:06:59.720 type of reclamation plan that a lot of the oil and gas companies have. As they're done in an area,

00:07:04.920 they start the reclamation process. And some of the earliest areas that were mined first are almost

00:07:09.880 completely reclaimed now. And unrecognizable. Exactly. You can't tell that they were mining

00:07:14.560 there. They're beautiful, they're cleaner, they're healthier than they were before. So, you know, that's

00:07:19.420 one of the biggest things I think that people don't understand about this project is that there's

00:07:23.600 already a mine there. The mine was just left. It was abandoned. The day that they left, nothing's really

00:07:30.300 changed in that area, except for some small measures here and there. But, you know, on net,

00:07:36.200 in the end, the environment would be cleaner and healthier. But this project's already been rejected

00:07:42.900 by the regulators. Part of the reason that they gave was there wasn't enough net benefit versus

00:07:51.120 the environmental cost. Why are you guys seeking to revive the project now?

00:07:56.500 So I just want to really drill into the wording of your question. So it wasn't a project that was

00:08:05.500 denied. It was a development application for the project that was denied. Why is that important?

00:08:11.900 Well, a lot of people say, well, the project was denied is dead, right? And that's not the case. And

00:08:17.420 the greatest metaphor is you buy an old house, and you want to knock it down and build a new house.

00:08:23.200 Okay, so you've bought the block, you own it, just like we own grassy, some part of his crown land and

00:08:29.920 part of it is private. So we own this this project, the house, the block, we're going to knock the house

00:08:35.880 down. That's been done. We want to build a new house. And so you put your plan into the planners,

00:08:42.520 the city planners, and the neighbors get to have a look at it. They go, Oh, it's too big. It's shadowing

00:08:47.200 my roses. I can see them in my backyard. Nope. And the regulator goes, Nope, that house, that house

00:08:52.260 isn't allowed. So you go away, and you come back with another plan, which addresses the issues.

00:08:57.180 It's no different. You have a right, this is Canada, this isn't Russia. You have a right to come back

00:09:01.700 with another application that addresses the issues you're talking about. And that's, that's what we

00:09:06.340 want to do.

00:09:06.800 So, so, so, like, a lot of people are saying it's legally dead. It's a zombie project. And that's

00:09:13.860 obviously not true, then. So what you're, you're working on is you're working to address the original

00:09:18.560 concerns from the original application, and, and help address the concerns of the neighbors and

00:09:24.080 different land users in that in that area. What kind of concerns from the local residents are you

00:09:31.880 hearing? So the local residents, like leaving, well, let's go back to the, to the, the original

00:09:38.500 application and the joint review panel. So they were talking about fish, selenium, westlope cutthroat

00:09:45.100 trout in one of the two creeks, and the economic benefit. So the economic benefit, coal prices are

00:09:51.200 double what they were back then, and they're not going south. Coal demand is, is increasing steel

00:09:58.680 making coal, particularly the kind of coal that we're looking at. And we actually have steel

00:10:03.700 companies coming to us because they can see a shortage of steel making coal coming. And they

00:10:10.520 have, you know, these are Japanese, Korean steel makers, Indian steel makers, they're not moving

00:10:15.920 to green steel. So metallurgical coal demand is going to be there for a long time. And if you have a

00:10:20.440 shortage, the price goes up. So the economic benefit to the, the region is going to be higher.

00:10:26.380 What we're doing is we're looking at those concerns, water, Gold Creek, and we're redesigning

00:10:32.180 the mine to really mitigate or completely avoid them. The locals' concerns are around dust,

00:10:39.080 and we have dust suppression. The JRP actually, in their report, said that while dust was an issue,

00:10:43.620 it wasn't, it wasn't something that was significant. The train loadout, we're looking at addressing some

00:10:49.640 of the issues. People were worried it was going to be this monster tower, like it would look like a

00:10:53.880 wheat bin, I guess. We're looking at ways of mitigating that. Water quantity, in reality,

00:11:00.740 doesn't actually use that much water. That's a bit of a myth. So we need to address that through

00:11:04.980 education. So it's kind of an interesting, it's interesting, we have real issues to address.

00:11:11.240 And then we've got educational issues to address, because there was a lot of mythology around coal and

00:11:15.860 grassy particularly. So we've got a great team doing our external affairs.

00:11:20.560 And so we've got a great technical team addressing the technical issues. So it's a bit of a, there's

00:11:26.760 two fronts.

00:11:27.760 Yeah. And with the water issues, honestly, when this project was first announced,

00:11:33.560 I thought the same thing that a lot of Albertans thought. Most of them thought thermal coal,

00:11:40.920 and we'd obviously phased out thermal coal and our thermal coal power generation in the province.

00:11:45.920 A lot of our thermal coal mines across the province have shut down because we've got lots of it and

00:11:51.880 we're not burning it here anyways. But the second thing that a lot of people were upset about was

00:11:58.760 selenium in the water and the water system that comes out of this. This is the headwaters that feed

00:12:04.880 the South Saskatchewan, the old man, pretty much every major water system in southern and southeastern

00:12:10.680 Alberta. So what are you guys doing to address those concerns? And what's the difference

00:12:17.540 in the metallurgical coal versus the thermal coal?

00:12:22.320 So let's do your last question first. So metallurgical coal is used for steelmaking.

00:12:27.900 75% of the world's steel is made today using metallurgical coal in a blast furnace. That technology

00:12:35.080 is around the world. It's very modern. It's used in Asia, China, Japan, Korea. Those would be our

00:12:44.360 major customers. We still have blast furnaces in parts of Canada and America. So metallurgical coal

00:12:51.200 is part of that process and it cannot be replaced in a blast furnace. It is used in the furnace for,

00:12:57.560 it has various attributes I won't get into. Not all coal can be metallurgical coal. It's a very specific

00:13:02.820 subset. All coal can be thermal coal. And then thermal coal, of course, is used to generate power.

00:13:08.960 And so, as you pointed out, Alberta has moved away from that. They're still experting thermal coal.

00:13:14.740 Coal is growing globally, mainly because of Asia, but in North America and Europe,

00:13:20.980 thermal coal use is declining, right? Because there's other power sources coming on stream.

00:13:25.600 Getting to selenium. So selenium is a byproduct of a lot of industries, agriculture, human waste,

00:13:33.840 power generation, and coal mining. And we know, you know, because of tech and the legacy issues there,

00:13:39.360 that selenium is an issue that people worry about. For us, it's an education issue because selenium is

00:13:47.520 actually something you need. If you were to go buy smart water black label, you would have

00:13:52.240 selenium in that bottle. In fact, the water in that bottle would be supersede BC's water quality

00:13:58.000 standards for selenium, but not Calgary's. But selenium is an issue. Now, we have the benefit of

00:14:03.840 starting new. And we have a multi-phase approach. So the first thing we want to do is identify

00:14:10.640 which rocks have more selenium, because not all the rocks have it. So by doing that, we can avoid

00:14:16.320 generating it in the first place. Like what happens is the rock gets exposed to rain and

00:14:20.880 oxygen and the selenium goes into the water system. So the first thing to do is find the selenium

00:14:25.440 bearing rock and isolate that from the elements, if you like. The second thing is we have the advantage

00:14:33.280 that there are many selenium treatment processes that work. So people look at tech and they go,

00:14:40.000 it doesn't work. Well, it does. Tech is dealing with historic mining methods that created the

00:14:45.200 problem. And it's very difficult to retrofit once you've created those issues. We're starting new.

00:14:50.960 So that means we can look at what works. We have a bit of a menu and we can say that works,

00:14:55.680 that works, that works. And what's really interesting is there's a mine called Tent Mountain,

00:15:00.400 which is right up against the border of BC, just in the Crowsness Pass. And it's an old mine. And there

00:15:06.720 is a stream there that has high selenium from the mine. It goes into a wetland. And when it comes

00:15:12.560 out of the wetland, the selenium is gone. So there are natural processes at work. And we have that on

00:15:18.160 site as well. So we have many, many ways of dealing with it. The key thing is that we have to prove to

00:15:23.440 the regulator that we can do it before we can mine. So the public is safe. The public is safe, right?

00:15:30.480 Some people say, I don't trust the regulator. Well, that's another issue for another day. But we have to

00:15:35.520 prove to the regulator we can do it. And we won't get a licensed operate unless we can. And so that's

00:15:40.480 the approach we're taking. But we're looking at avoidance and mitigation first. And that way,

00:15:45.120 you don't even have the problem. So by, you know, going in, reclaiming the site, upgrading it,

00:15:51.200 bringing it up to today's environmental standards, you guys would essentially be able to put new mining

00:15:56.560 practices that are in place to prevent some of the selenium from ever reaching the natural water

00:16:03.280 bodies in the first place, or actually even being released to get into the water in the first

00:16:07.280 place. So you guys are already planning the mitigation before you even start this project.

00:16:12.960 Correct. That's a really good, it's a really good pickup. And as well as the remediation. So,

00:16:18.240 you know, a lot of people remediation, historically, sometimes remediation can be an afterthought.

00:16:23.760 You know, yeah, we've got a, we've got money parked for that. But we want to integrate everything

00:16:28.320 into upfront and in design because you've got, you've got your equipment on site, modern equipment,

00:16:33.360 modern methods, let's do it all as we go. But you're absolutely right.

00:16:37.120 Well, it's actually it's kind of fascinating, because obviously, Calgary, we've got our own

00:16:41.840 water issues going on right now with the feeder main break and repair and all of that. But in doing

00:16:47.360 some research around that, the city of Calgary has actually been pushing rain gardens and rain gardens

00:16:52.720 might be something that many Calgarians are familiar with. And essentially, the plan is,

00:16:58.000 is to catch the runoff running off of your property, your roof, and trapping it into essentially a

00:17:02.960 wetland with proper plants in it. And it helps prevent sediment and debris from running off of

00:17:10.240 your property into the city's wastewater system, and then back into the natural river system. So

00:17:15.760 essentially, you're saying, you know, we could do the same thing here. And, you know, the selenium that

00:17:20.560 we can't prevent from getting into the water in the first place, we can put natural wetland systems

00:17:26.880 in place that would then help us clean this before it ever reaches is the river. So and you know,

00:17:32.720 that obviously would help to mitigate some of the concerns that a lot of people have, you know,

00:17:37.040 the South Saskatchewan River, St. Mary's Irrigation District, like a lot of irrigation, a lot of farmers,

00:17:43.520 ranchers, everything depends on this water supply. But let me just pick up on something there. So

00:17:53.760 the levels, and I don't want to get into the numbers, but the levels of selenium that we will

00:17:59.280 be able to release into the local ecosystem after treating the water are so low that they're not going

00:18:08.000 to get into like, by the time they get into the crow's nest and into the old man, you want to be

00:18:12.960 able to find the atoms. If we have a an episode where it's elevated and say it's twice, say it goes

00:18:20.000 up to 20. It's still not going to be measurable downstream. So the levels of selenium that would

00:18:25.760 cause problems with say livestock and humans is so high that in our estimation, and this is something

00:18:31.440 that's part of our education process is, it's so high, it would almost be impossible for us to do it on

00:18:37.680 purpose, much less by accident. So, yep, we'll have systems in place, we'll manage the selenium,

00:18:44.000 the selenium release will be within the limits that the government sets, and the people downstream

00:18:48.400 are not going to be harmed. And the thing is, is we are the crow's nest flows into the old man.

00:18:53.920 And then the other rivers, a lot of the other watersheds flow into the old man as well. So we

00:18:58.720 can't even affect them. And that's, that's another one of the things that we have to educate people on

00:19:03.360 is, you know, there's people up near Nanton and High River and Calgary and Edmonton,

00:19:06.640 not worry about their water. Well, it's just physically impossible for us to even affect it.

00:19:10.880 Yeah. So that's, that's part of the education process. And what's really interesting is the

00:19:14.160 more you talk to people, the more they go, huh, I didn't know that. So we have to do a lot of

00:19:18.000 educating. Yeah. As this is kind of unfolded, I found that I'll read quite a bit about it. And the

00:19:24.080 more that I read, the more I'm surprised. I'm like, we, is that part of a lot of the disinformation

00:19:29.600 that's gone out about this is just, you know, there's, it's going to pollute the water,

00:19:33.760 there's going to be all of these problems. And, and you, but you know, you've got tech right down

00:19:38.240 the road and that mine has been operating for how many years decades. And there's really been no

00:19:45.280 big issues. There's been no incident. There's no, no, it's interesting. You got to look for it.

00:19:50.320 Yeah. You got to go look for trouble.

00:19:52.000 Yeah. And that's the issue. It's like, we have that same issue. You know, we hear

00:19:55.760 myths and stories and you go, well, show us. Where are the photos? Where are the fish? Where

00:20:01.760 the, you know, and the first nations tell us that, you know, they, they say, you know, we were here

00:20:07.040 when those mines were operating with no environmental standards. Yeah. And we were fine. We lived here on

00:20:13.040 the old man before the dam, you know, we played it, we fished in it. We've never seen an issue.

00:20:18.480 Yeah. So yes, selenium, you know, scientifically, there can be issues with fish and the levels have

00:20:25.360 to be surprisingly high. And the standards that they've brought in are very low, right? So you've

00:20:31.280 got a lot of room to move if you do have an issue where you aren't managing it. I don't think we'll ever

00:20:38.160 have that issue, but there's a lot of buffers. But as far as human safety and animal safety goes,

00:20:43.760 it's virtually impossible for any of these projects to have an effect that dire, right?

00:20:51.040 And that's, that's part of education. But what's really interesting is, is the misinformation,

00:20:56.000 in my view, is lazy. Because it's catchphrase is like, oh, coal's a thirsty business.

00:21:02.080 But they never finish the sentence. They never say, compared to, and then they go, oh, wait,

00:21:07.280 actually, coal's not really that thirsty when I compare it to other industries. You know,

00:21:11.600 so it's lazy to be misinformation. It's like buzzwords and catchwords. And, you know, if you,

00:21:16.800 if you actually want to find the truth, you got to work.

00:21:20.320 Well, exactly. And like, there's how many coal mines through Alberta?

00:21:24.880 You know, I should know that. I'll come back to you on that. There's a lot.

00:21:27.380 There's a ton.

00:21:28.060 There's a ton, especially up north, right? And the Hinton area, Grand Cache.

00:21:31.480 Yeah. So there are coal mines that are operating.

00:21:34.280 Yeah, safely. And we have no issues with the water. And those same, those water systems in

00:21:40.040 northern Alberta, they flow into the Red Deer, also flows across the country, huge for agriculture.

00:21:45.560 The North Saskatchewan, they all go straight across the prairies. They're all crucial to agriculture.

00:21:51.560 And we're already doing this. And we're doing this historically. And this project would be

00:21:55.960 one of the most modern, with the most sophisticated environmental controls on it.

00:22:00.520 Absolutely. And for some reason, we're pushing back on it.

00:22:02.760 And under the microscope.

00:22:04.280 Yeah. Right. So you're not, you know, people aren't going to forget about it. You're not some,

00:22:07.480 you know, copper project in the middle of nowhere that people don't really worry about. So,

00:22:11.000 you know, anything we do is going to be heavily scrutinized. And we're aware of that. That's,

00:22:15.080 that's, that's proper. In fact, you know, when I was working in Australia,

00:22:20.200 um, so I grew up in Canada, and then I went to Australia for a six month holiday and stayed for 35 years.

00:22:26.120 I'm not very good at math. But, you know, I came back. But when I was over there, we were,

00:22:31.160 we were developing a uranium project. And we had, you know, opposition green groups. And I once said

00:22:36.920 to one of the green groups, you know, what would be really good is if we set up an independent panel,

00:22:42.040 it would be one of our members, one of you guys and an independent person. And that would be an

00:22:46.040 environmental panel that quarterly would meet, they would assess our last quarter's performance,

00:22:50.520 and then, you know, what are we doing next quarter, and you can actually have the oversight,

00:22:54.120 and I invited this guy said, you could be part of that, we would do that, we would be transparent.

00:22:58.200 You know what he said, he said, I wouldn't be able to raise money if I did that.

00:23:04.280 Like, it's a business, right? And I get it. And I'm, you know, so, so, you know, I would extend

00:23:09.160 that to anyone, like, we're going to be transparent, we're running public tours, come up and see the

00:23:13.720 mountain, come and ask me questions, I'll give them, I'll give my business card to anyone.

00:23:16.600 Yeah, like we had, when we first put the programming program out, we had 126 statements of concern.

00:23:24.680 Now, we shouldn't have seen any of them, because they didn't actually conform with the act, but we

00:23:28.920 got them. The AR said, here, you deal with them. So we did. And what we did subsequently was,

00:23:35.320 we actually wrote to each one of those people, and invited them to sit down with me, so that I could

00:23:41.560 listen to their concerns. And we had three people that realistically, you know, said, yeah, we'll,

00:23:47.720 we'll do that. And I've had, I've already had one of the meetings, and it went really, really well.

00:23:51.960 And we listened, and we addressed their concerns. And they went away and said, that was a really good

00:23:57.000 meeting. So, you know, we're, we're about being transparent, and having people ask the questions.

00:24:02.040 Yeah, well, and I think, with a lot of things, education is the most important. Most specifically,

00:24:10.040 for Albertans, and I'm born and raised here, I've lived here my entire life. Albertans like to be asked.

00:24:17.560 And I've noticed that the way this like, over a beer, mostly. And it feels like to me, the way this was

00:24:24.600 originally rolled out was just kind of a surprise to everyone. You know, there hadn't really been a lot

00:24:29.720 of push for new coal development, mining development across Alberta, the NDP had already phased out our

00:24:36.440 thermal coal generate a power generation. And then all of a sudden, you know, seemingly out of nowhere

00:24:43.080 for the general public, Jason Kenney stands up and goes, Well, we're going to resend 1976 coal policy.

00:24:48.760 And, you know, Peter Lougheed's policy, and people think instantly Peter Lougheed Provincial Park,

00:24:54.040 what they're going to mind Peter Lougheed Provincial Park, and it all got confusing. And

00:24:58.680 and just blown right out. So what do you say to the critics who say coal mining coal development

00:25:07.240 is no longer acceptable, not only in Alberta, but specifically in the Alberta Rocky Mountains

00:25:14.520 and the eastern slopes, I would say to them that they're right, in some places, that every project

00:25:22.440 needs to be needs to be assessed on its merits. And there will be places where yes, you shouldn't mind.

00:25:29.320 Absolutely. I agree with that. I'm a mountain biker. I'm a hiker. I'm more mountain biker than hiker,

00:25:34.520 but you get the point. I love the outside. That's one of the reasons I went into geology,

00:25:38.520 because I got paid to be in the bush and go camping. So you will not meet many geologists who

00:25:44.920 aren't environmentalists as well. But there are also people who understand where minerals come from,

00:25:49.480 and we have a modern life, and we need these things. So I would agree that in some instances,

00:25:54.920 it is too big a risk to have a mine for other developments, not just mining, but logging and

00:26:02.760 ranching and everything else. There's places you shouldn't do it. But there are places you can do it,

00:26:07.480 and you can do it responsibly, and you can do it safely, and you can do it without harming the

00:26:11.240 environment. And grassy is one of those places. And if you're going to do it, you should do it in a

00:26:15.000 place that it's already been done. Well, that's right. That is currently a mess.

00:26:18.200 With modern environmental laws. Like, this is one of the things, you know, we had something

00:26:22.280 happen in Australia, the same thing. And they tried to stop a coal mine, because they believed

00:26:26.360 that if they stopped the coal mine, that coal wouldn't get burnt. Well, that's wrong. It's just

00:26:29.480 going to come from somewhere else. And the somewhere else is going to have lower environmental

00:26:33.480 standards, lower human rights standards, lower labor standards. And the net benefit to the planet is

00:26:39.000 worse. So if you're clear about the planet, then let's do it here under the microscope.

00:26:44.760 If you only compare about your own little patch or your ideologue, well, I can't really help you.

00:26:51.560 Let's talk about that too, because part of the opposition to this project is that

00:26:56.840 the coal that will be mined from here will not benefit Canada. Like you said, your customers are

00:27:02.360 primarily China, India, South Korea. So the coal is going to be shipped someplace else. But what would

00:27:11.320 be coming back to Canada that we wouldn't need this type of coal for? Well, jobs and foreign income,

00:27:18.440 right? Jobs and foreign income. You can't, you can't sustain a modern economy through debt.

00:27:23.720 Although there are people who think you can, but you need, you need countries, countries that

00:27:29.000 do well. And Australia is a great example. They have to sell something. Now, luckily,

00:27:33.400 Canada has tourism. Well, Australia's tourism too. But that doesn't pay all the bills. And

00:27:38.680 developing your resources responsibly is a way of paying your bills. I mean, Alberta has the lowest tax

00:27:44.600 in the country. And there's a reason for that. People are coming to Calgary as net growth. And there's

00:27:48.840 a reason for that. It's a great place to live. I mean, I love Alberta. I'm sure I was born here.

00:27:53.160 And then robbed at birth or something and moved to Ontario, right? But the thing is, is there's a

00:28:00.200 reason that this is a great province. And that's because of its resources and tourism, right? But

00:28:05.160 tourism is very focused in particular areas, as you know, if you go to Lake Louise in the middle of

00:28:09.720 the afternoon during summer, you know, it's pretty, there's a lot of tourism. But the thing is, is the

00:28:15.240 benefits that are, like I said, local, so crow's nest is better off that that puts less strain on

00:28:21.720 on the public purse, because people live there, they're unemployed, they have to be subsidized,

00:28:27.320 or, you know, crow's nest has to be looked after by the province. But there's foreign income coming

00:28:33.160 into the country. And there's, you know, there's royalties and the benefits of First Nations as well.

00:28:37.400 So it's, you know, it's multifaceted. But it's better to do it here. It's better for the country,

00:28:42.680 it's better for the local people, it's better for the economy. And it's only a little bit,

00:28:46.760 right? But you get lots of little bits, and they start to grow.

00:28:50.200 Well, okay, so one of the things that absolutely drives me crazy about resource development right

00:28:55.240 now, especially in Canada, but mostly in Alberta, is that the opposition is not coming from the areas

00:29:02.040 where these projects are proposed. The vast majority of the opposition to the oil sands is coming from

00:29:07.400 eastern Canada. On net, Alberta overly, overwhelmingly supports oil sands development,

00:29:14.440 the people in Fort McMurray, as well as the natives in the area, they work in that industry,

00:29:19.320 they're developing those resources. And most of the opposition to this project appears to be coming from

00:29:27.480 in the cities in Calgary, in Edmonton, people nowhere near these projects. How do the people in the

00:29:33.800 area feel about the projects? And what kind of jobs are those communities looking at from a project

00:29:39.160 like this? That's a great question. So Crowsnest is made up of predominantly people who are

00:29:47.000 descended from coal miners. It was a big mining area. And there's a lot of people there who are

00:29:51.480 descendants, and a lot of them work at Tech. So Crowsnest, for your viewers, is on the Alberta side of

00:29:58.520 Crowsnest Pass, and on the other side is Sparwood in the Elk Valley. And those people,

00:30:02.040 you know, they drive to work every day, and they might be up to an hour, up to 90 minutes to get

00:30:06.360 to work every day, on a fairly narrow road when you get on the BC side. And then, so for us,

00:30:14.920 there are people, the First Nations, and the people in Crowsnest, there's already a ready workforce,

00:30:20.680 somewhat. But we'll have technical jobs, we'll have, you know, there's, when you look at a mine site,

00:30:25.880 they basically have almost every job you can think of. If you've got, you know, there's surveyors,

00:30:29.800 there's electricians, and plumbers, and there's chemists, and there's geologists, and there's

00:30:33.080 mining engineers, and truck drivers, and truck mechanics, and diesel mechanics, and, you know,

00:30:36.440 it goes on and on and on. It's a big undertaking, right? So I've, I've developed mine sites before,

00:30:40.840 and it's amazing. And you get people from all over the country coming to work. So, so, you know,

00:30:46.440 the benefit to the workforce is huge. And one of the things that I particularly feel passionate about

00:30:52.520 it is that if we can take someone from the tech organization, and they're working in Crowsnest,

00:30:57.960 well, they're getting an extra hour with their kids every day. So there's so many benefits,

00:31:01.640 some of which you can measure, and some which you can't. And we, we have, so Crowsnest have markets

00:31:06.840 every week in Blairmore. And we have a booth there, and people come up, and they say, when are you

00:31:10.920 starting? What's your roster going to be? What are you going to pay? You know, so there's a lot of interest.

00:31:15.000 Yeah, so a lot of people in those communities, they, they want those jobs. And even

00:31:19.560 a friend of mine actually works at Tech. So he drives from Lethbridge and stays in a bunkhouse for

00:31:25.960 his days on, and then drives back to his family in Lethbridge. So, you know, these mines would

00:31:31.720 increase jobs across all of Southern Alberta, well, in that general area. But what you're saying is the

00:31:38.600 communities that have a giant green truck world, well, it was one of the world's largest trucks at

00:31:45.240 the time. The giant green mining truck proudly on display. They're, they're, they're supportive

00:31:50.600 of a project like this. Yeah, they are. And, and to go back to your original question about, you know,

00:31:56.920 the, the opposition being not in that area, there are people down there that are concerned, for sure.

00:32:04.680 But, you know, there is overwhelming support down there. And in fact, we just did some polling,

00:32:09.640 and it's consistent with polling we did two years ago and other people's polling. When you go out,

00:32:13.720 actually do proper polling, when you go and get a random population, Albertans support, majority

00:32:19.800 of Albertans support coal mining. And that number goes up when you talk about steelmaking coal. So

00:32:25.160 the myth that, you know, 85% of Albertans don't, don't support coal mining is just wrong. So again,

00:32:32.440 it comes back to education. And what's interesting is that the people closest to the project are most

00:32:37.560 supportive, because they understand it. As you move away, you then you drift into myth.

00:32:41.880 Oh, exactly. You know, and, and so, you know, they're listening to people who aren't experts,

00:32:47.080 basically. Yeah. And I mean, I find it fascinating. You know, Nahid Namchi, the, now the leader of the

00:32:55.560 NDP, has been going around talking about how we have a shortage of schools, I think 20 to 30 schools,

00:33:03.080 just in Calgary alone, due to the increase. By the looks of things, the federal government will not be

00:33:08.760 slowing down immigration. So what are the actual economic benefits to the province and royalties?

00:33:16.600 But not just royalties, every single one of these employees will pay income tax, they will pay GST,

00:33:23.080 they will support the local economy. So, you know, not, not as Alberta as a whole, what kind of economic

00:33:29.400 benefit are we talking about for Alberta, but also what kind of economic benefit are we talking about

00:33:34.360 for the communities and the Crow's nest pies? Yeah. So it's a hard question to answer right now,

00:33:38.520 because we, we don't have a final mine plan. So we don't have those numbers. But, you know, the,

00:33:43.880 the other mine plan that we submitted and was rejected, there was, I think, over 400 people on

00:33:48.680 the construction site and over 300 on, on the mine site. So those numbers wouldn't be too far off.

00:33:55.240 But as you say, you know, you're generating royalties, coal prices are going up. Right now,

00:34:00.120 they're around between 200 and 250 a ton. When the study was done previously, it was around 140.

00:34:07.720 So we're seeing the coal price go up. There is royalties. It's not a huge royalty in Alberta,

00:34:14.360 but it is what it is. But it's the income tax, there's people spending money in that community.

00:34:18.600 And then there's the, what we call the, you know, the effect of, for every one job you have in mining,

00:34:23.480 there's several jobs that come off the back of that, because, you know, one of our policies is we'll,

00:34:27.960 we'll spend local. And there's a lot of companies there that, you know, diesel mechanics,

00:34:34.440 small vehicle mechanics, it's a town, I mean, it's one of, it's interesting, because in Australia,

00:34:39.640 mostly the mines are very remote. And so they have to be self sufficient, they build camps,

00:34:43.720 and everyone flies and flies out, you've got everything there. Yeah, here, we've already got

00:34:47.960 established businesses that can help with operations. So you kind of tap into that you tap into,

00:34:55.080 these people are already experts, we want to get people trained up, particularly First Nations,

00:34:59.960 to get them get capacity built with them. And it benefits us and it benefits the community

00:35:06.440 to not have fly in fly out, to have as many people local as you can. And Lethbridge is

00:35:10.600 by and large local, it's not that far away. Yeah. Same as Pincher Creek, you know, Brocket,

00:35:15.480 and other towns, Fort McLeod. So there's lots of towns there with people that we're talking to all the

00:35:20.520 time, and looking forward to the project getting up. Yeah. And one of the things that the naysayers

00:35:27.320 are saying is that a project like this is going to deter tourism, and it's going to prevent it from

00:35:35.880 becoming, you know, the next Canmore or something like that. What do you what do you say for that?

00:35:41.720 Well, Canmore has a mine. It's an old mining town, you know, it was called mining town,

00:35:46.440 up until I think 1979. And it's a map, it was a massive mine. Like they had to do a lot of work

00:35:51.400 afterwards to, to make it safe to build, you know, three sisters on top of it. It also has an existing

00:35:58.200 mine. A lot of people forget that, right? There's the limestone mine just up the road. Yeah. The

00:36:02.840 Akshaw, you know, there's the cement plant. So it actually has a mine seems to be doing okay. Everybody

00:36:07.400 driving from top of the path drives very passive. And what do they do? They stop and they take a picture.

00:36:12.920 Yeah, people are interested in these things, right? So Crows Nest has this fascinating mining history,

00:36:17.960 right? Has history of prohibition and bootlegging. It's a really fascinating place. And why can't you

00:36:24.360 have both? All right. Fernie has it. Fernie's just down the road from mining. You know, the Elk Valley,

00:36:29.720 people go there fishing, hunting. But, you know, to me, Crows Nest has this really unique opportunity to

00:36:35.800 be a really unique tourist destination. Because there's so much old mining infrastructure around and

00:36:40.440 people look at Colbank in Banff. That's an old mining town. And there's a hiking trail through it.

00:36:48.040 So there's this really neat opportunity to have both to have a town that's actually vibrant.

00:36:52.920 So now you've got more hotels, you've got more shops, you get more tourists. Because one of the

00:36:57.720 problems is, you know, what comes first, you go build a bunch of stuff and hope the tourists come?

00:37:01.320 Or do you just organically build the town up through an industry that then allows more tourism?

00:37:05.800 So to me, you go, okay, let's put some money into some of these old buildings to make them safe.

00:37:09.800 Let's tell a story. Because there's a lot of them. We walk around the bush and get paid to do

00:37:13.960 it. We find lots of really interesting historical things. And there's nothing like walking through

00:37:19.640 history. So I think you can have both. And I think Crows Nest has a really unique opportunity to

00:37:24.680 be a unique tourist destination through mining. And there's places in Australia, like Ballarat and

00:37:29.720 Bendigo and Victoria that are historical mining towns, and people come there to see the mining

00:37:34.360 history. You know, if you want, if you want to Banff National Park, or Jasper National, you go to

00:37:39.880 Canmore and you go to Banff, right? But if you want a different experience, and you're close to

00:37:44.920 Waterton, you're close to Castle, you're close to your BC, there's no reason this couldn't be a

00:37:49.640 really unique tourist destination and have both industries.

00:37:52.440 Yeah, so what you're saying is, is it doesn't have to be one or the other.

00:37:56.280 And there's plenty of examples across the world of where you can do both. One of the things that I

00:38:02.520 find fascinating about this is right now, as you said, this is one of the poorest areas of the

00:38:08.920 province, there's not a massive amount of income. But in order to develop a tourism industry, you need

00:38:16.840 someone to invest in that area. And right now, outside of coal mining, there's not a lot of other

00:38:24.120 industry rushing into that area to make investments. So do you see an investment of this size and of

00:38:30.360 this type, actually helping the community grow and be able to invest back into itself to diversify

00:38:37.080 its industry, and not just rely on the coal mining industry?

00:38:40.840 Not only can we, we have. So one of the things that we did, Riversdale did, was a land swap with the

00:38:49.160 golf course. So the golf course, Crowsnest golf course, was down on the flats next to Highway 3.

00:38:55.880 And so what the company did was they did a land swap, built them a new golf course up in the more

00:39:00.440 hilly area, and built them a new clubhouse. And it is a major attraction to Crowsnest. It is, it is a,

00:39:06.680 I think it's been judged as the top, top three golf courses in Alberta. It's beautiful scenery.

00:39:14.440 So we've done it. We've proved that you can do it. And that is one of the biggest and best tourist

00:39:20.040 destinations in that part of the world right now. So yeah, absolutely, you can do it. And then if you're

00:39:25.640 really passionate, as I am, and planned about it, you've got the old town of Lille, access is really

00:39:32.440 difficult. You've got the old mine at Hillcrest, which had a really horrendous disaster, but it's

00:39:37.800 part of history. You've got this tipple that's right on the highway, right? Yeah, we'll pull out,

00:39:43.720 people go see it. It's fascinating. You know, there's so much history there that people are

00:39:47.800 driving past to get somewhere else. We'll just stop them there, stay in Crowsnest and find out

00:39:53.320 this has got a rich history and it was a big part of the province's history.

00:39:56.440 Well, exactly. Well, I mean, the Frank slide's down there. I mean, you're a geologist. So Frank slide

00:40:04.200 is just to me, one of the most fascinating things in history. And the fact that the mountain is still

00:40:09.160 moving and they're still monitoring it on a daily basis. A lot of people just haven't, you know,

00:40:15.160 they drive through it. They're on their way to Fernie. They're on their way to Crownbrook. They're on their

00:40:19.000 way to the Kootenays and they don't stop and they don't actually check out the history. And there is a lot

00:40:24.680 of great history in there. But without a project like this moving into the area, you know, what

00:40:30.840 incentive right now do they have to go build hotels? Well, you know, if you've got 300 people coming to

00:40:35.400 do construction, three, 400 people to do a construction project, they're going to build

00:40:39.880 some hotels in the area. You're going to get the investment. When those hotels are done,

00:40:43.560 when we're finished with construction and we're moving on to permanent mining, people are going to

00:40:47.720 move to the area and they're going to build more hotels and then they're going to diversify and

00:40:51.960 they're going to use the new golf course and, you know, other investments in the area to grow.

00:40:56.280 And I just don't think that's a bad thing. You know, I grew up just outside of Medicine Hat. Right

00:41:02.120 in my backyard is the old Ajax coal mine. Well, the city of Medicine Hat built a regional park right

00:41:07.640 beside it, Echodale Regional Park. And, you know, it's the entrance to the old coal mine and they have

00:41:12.680 the history and, you know, that's, I guess that would have closed well before I was born. But

00:41:20.680 this essentially is just taking the history of the coal mining across the province and what we've

00:41:25.880 already done and what we've done well in other areas and putting a modern touch and a modern spin

00:41:31.160 on a modern project on this. That's right. And, you know, going back to your Kenmore example,

00:41:36.600 there's a place there where people, there's a dog park and next to it is a recreation area called Quarry Lake.

00:41:42.200 It's a coal quarry. It's a coal mine that's been reclamated and people use it. And there's lots

00:41:48.760 of examples of that around not only Canada, but all around the world where reclamation is actually

00:41:53.800 very successful. Sometimes people haven't done the right thing, right? But, you know, as I said,

00:42:00.440 we're going to be under the microscope. We're going to be held to a very high standard. We have our own

00:42:03.880 high standards internally. And we want to, you know, we have part of our mission, vision and values

00:42:11.960 just to leave a lasting legacy. And, and that's what we're doing and that's what we want to do.

00:42:18.600 Yeah. And I think that's really important. So what, what are the next steps now for this project?

00:42:24.200 Because obviously it has seen some of the most interesting hurdles. I think of any project's

00:42:31.560 history. I think this tech frontier oil sands mine and, and this specific coal project have been

00:42:37.960 probably Canada's two most bungled projects that I've ever had. Just the goalposts keep moving.

00:42:45.640 You know, it seems like you get to exactly what we need to do to meet the environmental protection

00:42:52.280 demands and the, and the goalposts move. So what, what's next for this project? What's next for your,

00:42:56.840 for your company? So it's a drilling program. So one of the findings from the joint review panel

00:43:03.960 report that came out and denied the application was that there were some shortcomings in, in, in the work

00:43:13.800 that had been done by the previous team. And the regulator was very specific that there was a requirement

00:43:23.080 for more site specific data. So that means collecting data on site and some of that data requires drilling.

00:43:29.000 So we designed a drilling program. It wasn't a drilling program to extend the resource. It was,

00:43:35.320 the drilling was all going to be done inside the, the known pit boundary to get geotechnical data.

00:43:42.360 So that helps you with your footprint, because if you have good geotechnical data, it means that your,

00:43:46.760 your pit walls can be a little bit steeper, just as safe, and you don't have as big a footprint.

00:43:51.880 We needed more, what we call hydrogeology. So that's groundwater, surface water, and to do that,

00:43:59.480 we had to drill. And so we put in a drilling application just over, just under a year ago.

00:44:06.520 And that obviously, because it's grassy, garnered a lot of attention. And so,

00:44:10.920 you know, it's interesting, you talk about Frontier, because there's only been two drilling

00:44:13.960 programs that have gone to a public hearing. It's Frontier and grassy. Yeah. Yeah. And, and so,

00:44:19.400 that's not normal either for this type of program. Oh, God, no. Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. And,

00:44:24.680 but the regulator, because there was a lot of public interest, decided it was, it was best to

00:44:28.040 have a hearing. And look, we're on board with that. We're ready for the hearing when, yeah,

00:44:31.640 hopefully, hopefully, a lot of people really think of this as some massive national foreign company that

00:44:41.640 is going to come here, ruin the, this mountain and take the money and run. And if anything,

00:44:49.400 you guys have been trying to do an outward education program and say no. And like you've said,

00:44:54.280 you're, you're inviting people to go look at the mind, go look at the project. So this isn't some

00:44:59.160 evil corporation and some faceless person that, that's, that's doing this, you guys are, are trying,

00:45:05.400 you guys are doing everything that's required of you. Well, that's right. I mean, let's, let's not,

00:45:10.600 let's not beat around the bush. You know, the last time the, it went through the approvals process,

00:45:15.560 the whole coal policy thing blew up. And so the goalposts certainly did move, right, hugely. And,

00:45:21.880 and unfortunately, the project got caught up in it, but it is what it is, right. And now what we're

00:45:27.480 doing is we're taking the, the findings from that report. And, and in fact, I always look at silver

00:45:33.480 linings. Okay. So this mine will be better, lower impact, lower water use, right. It's going to be a

00:45:41.400 better outcome. So although it's been kind of a pain for everyone, it's a better outcome. And

00:45:47.720 that's what the regulator is there for. Okay. What they should have done was said, yeah, you can build

00:45:52.040 it, but here's a bunch of conditions. They didn't, we are where we are. Now the next, next phase, as we

00:45:57.400 said, drill, get more data, enhance our planning to be even better. And then we'll, we'll see from there.

00:46:04.760 So there's no application in the process right now. We have the right to do a new application if we

00:46:11.000 want. But right now we're going to do this drilling work on our mine plans and, and see what that looks

00:46:16.200 like. And so far, you know, we've taken a lot of feedback from people. We did, we do what's called

00:46:22.200 the listening tour. We go out and listen to people. As you say that everyone likes to have a, to, to be

00:46:28.360 asked their opinions. Albertans like to be asked, educated, and then give their permission. Correct.

00:46:34.840 And I feel like every Albertan, uh, it, it, every Albertan feels this way. And it doesn't matter what

00:46:40.280 the project is. They feel like they personally have to say yes to something, whether it's to you, uh,

00:46:46.520 out loud on social media or just in their own head, they have to, you know, they have to be convinced.

00:46:51.080 Well, that's right. Cause there's, there's a real historic connection to land in Alberta

00:46:55.400 and even people coming into the province feel it. It's different. It's different. And land is,

00:47:01.800 you know, land is, um, important. And so we know that and we're doing what we can to make sure,

00:47:07.880 you know, people are educated. And, you know, if I have to talk to everybody in Alberta,

00:47:11.320 it's going to take a while, but I'll give it a crack. Yeah. You know, well, we'll, we'll try to

00:47:16.280 help our, our member, our members will hopefully share the message. Uh, but I mean, yeah, we, we are like

00:47:21.400 the birthplace of Canada's national parks. You know, we've got BAMF, the first national park,

00:47:25.400 right. And then Peter Lougheed, a conservative, you know, we can serve, we conserve our environment.

00:47:31.640 Uh, our farmers and ranchers are probably some of the biggest environmentalists ever.

00:47:36.040 And, and, you know, they've been, uh, villainized, you know, with, uh, cow farts and fertilizer,

00:47:41.320 uh, you know, our oil and gas industry is the cleanest oil and gas industry on this planet.

00:47:45.800 Absolutely. And they've been vilified and C-59, they're not even allowed to talk about the good

00:47:50.280 things they do anymore. And our coal industry, I, there's been no major coal disasters in Alberta,

00:47:57.320 uh, environmentally anyways. Uh, you know, we've been mining this resource historically and

00:48:03.400 responsibly for hundreds of years without issue. And, and now it feels like this is just the next

00:48:09.320 one, uh, the next industry that they're, they're going to vilify it. And it seems like this is just

00:48:14.760 wildly driven by activists and all intelligence around the issue is just, you know, what's

00:48:20.760 interesting is, okay. Say the activists are successful in coal mining stops in Alberta.

00:48:27.560 If you think the activists are going to stop at coal, you are naive and misguided. You're next.

00:48:33.800 Oh, I, right. And, and we already know the activists want everyone to be vague and then stop

00:48:39.800 eating beef. We already know that they're trying to stop oil, right? We know that. So to me,

00:48:47.160 look, a lot of ranchers support the project. There's, there's a fallacy that all the ranchers

00:48:51.000 are against it. That's just not true. Yeah. And it's mainly the local ranchers who support it.

00:48:56.360 So we, as primary producers, whether it's food or beef or oil and gas or coal, we are primary producers.

00:49:03.720 We're earning money for the province. We're providing jobs for the province.

00:49:08.520 We should be all working together to educate and ensure that we're following the standards

00:49:14.600 and ensure that we call out the people who are lying and spreading myths and misinformation

00:49:21.000 as, as a team, team Alberta, right? We should be doing that. This is Alberta. Yeah.

00:49:27.240 You know, it's, it's, people should be proud of what we do here. Well, and I mean,

00:49:31.880 you need metallurgical coal to build windmills. You need this coal to build solar panels.

00:49:37.160 So if we're going to start to decolonize. And you need more of it. Yeah.

00:49:40.200 You need more of it. So, you know, I ran a uranium company. I've run iron ore companies,

00:49:45.880 a company, I ran a copper nickel company. I know where the minerals go and what they're needed.

00:49:52.760 Right. Renewables have a place, but they have inherently lower energy density that will never

00:49:58.360 change and they require more metal. So as a geologist, I'm all for renewables. It's all,

00:50:03.000 yeah, let's build all renewables. We need more metal. Yeah.

00:50:05.320 So you need more of it. Right. And you need transmission lines. And because of the very

00:50:09.560 nature of the intermittency and how it's spread out. So, you know, you can't, you can't have one

00:50:15.080 thing without understanding that there's a requirement for the raw materials for it. Right.

00:50:21.080 Unless you just want to import everything, in which case your economy suffers usually. So yeah,

00:50:27.240 there's a lot, there's steel in everything. I mean, you know, that, that, that pipe that broke.

00:50:31.320 Yeah. That was concrete reinforced with steel. Yeah. Every time you see a concrete structure,

00:50:35.720 it's full of steel. Right. It is in every part of your life. Yeah. And you cannot live without it.

00:50:41.880 I like electric vehicles. They need steel. It's just syringes, everything, medical equipment.

00:50:49.160 And I always feel like, uh, if we are going to do these projects that we should do them in Alberta,

00:50:58.280 create Alberta jobs and, and, and then use our resources and reinvest back into our own province

00:51:05.000 and our own country for that matter. Well, not only that, so this is, this is, that's really

00:51:09.080 interesting. And, and when you develop expertise in, in modern mining that has the lowest impact

00:51:17.480 globally, you can also export that expertise. So you look at Australia and you look at Canada,

00:51:24.440 mining expertise in Australia and Canada has gone around the world, right? It's an export.

00:51:30.360 Those people are working overseas. Yeah. So we, we not only have a chance to, you know, show that

00:51:35.640 grassy can be done properly and responsibly, we can actually take that expertise and take it overseas.

00:51:43.080 There's so many opportunities. Oh, well, and that's the thing. Canadian ingenuity could, uh,

00:51:47.800 actually global or lower global emissions clean up global industry across the world.

00:51:53.880 Well, we know that and generally make the world a better place to be. Absolutely.

00:51:57.720 We, uh, we are running out of time though. I could probably sit here and talk about this with our,

00:52:01.640 or what about this was just a fascinating project to me. Uh, but where, where can, uh, our viewers,

00:52:10.360 where can the Western standard members get more information on this project and start to help

00:52:15.160 educating themselves? Sure. So they can go to northback.ca. That's the website. And on the website,

00:52:21.480 there's, uh, a lot of what we call factoids and there's going to be more, or they can email me

00:52:26.520 directly CEO at northback.ca. And they can send me a, an email and they can ask me questions or they can

00:52:35.160 tell me I'm full of crap, whatever, but I will answer them all. That's a, that's awesome. Thank you very

00:52:42.680 much, Mike, for coming in today. I appreciate it. And, uh, thank you to you, the Western standard

00:52:48.520 members for joining us today. Uh, if you're not already, you can become a member at, uh,

00:52:54.280 westernstandard.news, $10 a month or a hundred dollars a year. Thank you very much for tuning

00:53:00.200 in and have a good night.

Western Standard - July 19, 2024

ALBERTA REPORT： Let's get coal rolling.

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