Looking for a lump of coal in Alberta? This mine is your last chance

Barry Wilchiw has hauled coal for decades — coal to heat greenhouses, barns and industrial shops. In winter, it can be mixed with straw and burned to melt frozen ground to build pipelines or dig graves. 

Due to increasing prices and lack of customers, this might be his last year. 

"It basically ends my era of coal. It's a dying thing," Wilchiw said.

He used to truck coal six days a week, but now it's only six days a month. 

"I cannot afford to run my truck with the plates and the insurance and the safety [inspections]. I don't have enough customers to keep it going." 

While Wilchiw no longer uses coal to heat his home near Redwater, Alta., he still uses it to heat the remaining buildings at Thorhild Mine — where he is the caretaker — to stop water pipes from freezing. 

"I never once let my customers down," he said. 

Alberta has a long history with coal. It was the first energy commodity to be exported from the province, starting in the late 1800s.

In the last decade, Alberta has transitioned away from coal. The last two coal-fired electricity generating plants in the province are scheduled to be converted to natural gas by the year's end.

Only about one in 100 Canadian homes use coal as their primary heating source, according to data from the Alberta government.

While there are still five active coal mines in Alberta, the province says only one sells heating coal to the general public — Dodds Coal Mine, near the village of Ryley, about 100 kilometres southeast of Edmonton.

Less than a decade ago, it was common for trucks to line up, waiting to be filled with coal, said Dave Bowal, the manager at Dodds Coal Mine. Now, there might only be a handful of customers each day.

"When I first started taking over the coal mine from my parents, I had a dream that my kids would maybe take it over," he said.

"But it doesn't look like it's going to be a chance for them to take it over."