CoverIndex

Mining and Uranium

Kaiser Resources

2 pictures · 1979

Founded
1967 (Kaiser Coal Ltd., B.C.); renamed Kaiser Resources Ltd. 1969
Head office then
Vancouver, British Columbia (Board of Trade Tower, 1177 West Hastings Street); mines at Sparwood

Kaiser Resources mined metallurgical coal in the Elk Valley. It ran open pits at the Balmer mine near Sparwood and sent coal by unit train to a deep-water terminal at Roberts Bank, south of Vancouver, opened in 1970. The 1979 report called it Canada’s largest metallurgical-coal producer.

Sparwood coal and the Roberts Bank port tied southeastern B.C. to Japanese and other steel mills, and supported the new town of Sparwood after Michel closed.

Why it mattered

Sparwood coal and the Roberts Bank port tied southeastern B.C. coal to Japan and other steel markets and supported the new town of Sparwood after Michel closed. The mines were a mainstay of the Elk Valley.

Now

B.C. Resources Investment Corporation took control in 1980. The company was renamed B.C. Coal, then Westar Mining. Westar went bankrupt in 1992. Teck bought the Balmer pits and restarted them in 1993 as Elkview. Teck sold that Elk Valley coal business to Glencore in 2024. The Roberts Bank terminal continued separately as Westshore.

Changed hands (1992) · Now: B.C. Coal / Westar Mining; Elkview (Teck, then Glencore EVR); Westshore Terminals

Still open

  • BCRIC stake is described as about 65–66% in contemporary press; exact closing percentage not restated here.
  • Some Westar Elk Valley holdings (e.g. Greenhills / Upper Elk Valley) went to Fording Coal rather than Teck; Balmer/Elkview is the Sparwood Kaiser pit chain.
Coal carrier and the man-made island at Roberts Bank.

Kaiser Resources · 1979

Coal carrier and the man-made island at Roberts Bank.

the picture

Open-pit coal terraces at Elkview, in snow.

Kaiser Resources · 1979

Open-pit coal terraces at Elkview, in snow.

the picture

Sources

The pictures

References

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