Coal built Grande Cache, Alta. But plans for a new mine don't sit well with some residents

The long black streaks in the hills along Highway 40 outside Grande Cache, Alta., are a clear sign of the rich coal seams that run through the eastern slopes of the Rockies there. 

The community, about 430 kilometres northwest of Edmonton, was established in the 1960s to serve the mine that still pulls coal out of the ground outside town. The volatile coal industry has fuelled the local economy from the beginning.

In recent years as coal fired power plants were phased out across Alberta, the future of the town's existing mine became more uncertain. The local power plant was converted from coal to primarily natural gas in 2019. 

Only the continued demand for metallurgical coal to make steel overseas has kept the mine going. There is now a proposal to build a new mine in the area to produce more coal for steel making, a project that has some people in Grande Cache thinking twice.

The Summit 14 mine, proposed by Maxim Power, would be built on Grande Mountain which looms large over Grande Cache. 

The potential mine site is also visible through the trees of Jules Desrocher's camp ground and trail riding business.

"The haul road is going to come across what we are looking at — right on Grande Mountain," he says, pointing to the potential mine site in the distance.

Desrocher worries tourists will stop coming to enjoy the natural beauty of the area if there is a coal mine overlooking his operation.

The Metis entrepreneur also has concerns about what the mine will mean for drinking water in the area.

Desrocher, who also works part time in the oil and gas sector, is quick to point out that he is not anti-industry. But he says there are too many unknowns when it comes to the new mine proposal.

In Grande Cache, at a packed open house about the proposed mine held in July, questions about its environmental impact are top of mind for many in attendance.

Maxim Power, the company pitching the new project, says that the mine will be underground, meaning local water will be more protected than in a surface mine.

Kyle Mitton of Maxim Power adds that the company has to do "the environmental monitoring and demonstrate that this will be a responsible operation," before it is given the green light to build the mine by the province.

If the company does receive the permits it needs, the mine could be producing metallurgical coal by the end of next year.