Riversdale Resources met with council at a special meeting on Wednesday, Nov. 23 to update the progress of the Grassy Mountain Coal Project.

The presentation was made by Cal Clark, manager of sustainable development and Keith Bott, community liaison.

The presentation started with Riversdale’s commitment to key areas in the community including safety, responsible developments, support to community, minimizing impact on the environment and managing the business in the global sector.

The following is the progress made to date for Riversdale.

Regulatory update

Riversdale has an integrated application and Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) update filed with the Alberta Enviroment Regulator
(AER) in August.

They are waiting for AER to accept the application and issue a Public Notice of Application which will start formal review and a public comment process.

There is an on-going review of the November 2015 application for Canadian Environoment Assessment Agency (CEAA) and Coal Conservation Act (2 CCA) continuing.

A joint panel review/ hearing is still pending AER decision and depending on timing of AER and the decision, CEAA could proceed to panel review without the province.

Environmental update

Fall fisheries and aquatics field studies completed; addendum report to the EIA update end of January 2017.

The University of Lethbridge Westslope Cutthroat Trout study is continuing over winter.

The mine is completing reclamation work on initial exploration program.

Community update

A fall/winter newsletter is planned for the end of November.

The company will be participating in Christmas in the Mountains and have an Australia Day Celebration on January 21.

Other activities

Detailed project planning and design work is underway.

A Digital Terrain Model (DTM) surveys and Geotech drilling to be conducted this fall to support the infrastructure and rail loop design.
The company will be filing an application for rail loop with Alberta Transportation.