Top Active Coal Mines
in Canada

Fording River is the largest single mine in the Elk Valley complex and one of the biggest steelmaking coal operations in the world. It produces high-quality hard coking coal prized by steelmakers across Asia.

Elkview is the second-largest mine in the complex, producing hard coking coal and semi-soft coking coal for export. The operation's massive dragline and truck-shovel fleet are visible from Highway 3.

Greenhills produces high-volatile hard coking coal used in steel blast furnaces worldwide. Its coal handling and preparation plant processes run-of-mine coal into a washed product railed to the B.C. coast for export.

Line Creek is the northernmost of the four active Elk Valley mines, producing a mix of hard coking and thermal coal. It contributes to EVR's integrated water treatment system managing selenium and other contaminants across the valley.

Coal Mountain is no longer actively producing coal. The site has transitioned to care and maintenance and now serves as a training campus for new EVR employees.

Conuma restarted the historic Quintette mine, which sat idle for over two decades after closing in 2000. Quintette has large reserve bases with decades of mining potential and is becoming Conuma's flagship operation.

Willow Creek is an open-cut operation producing hard coking coal and low-volatile PCI coal for steelmaking. Output is modest, but the high quality commands premium pricing in Asian markets.

Brule completed mining of its permitted areas in December 2024 and entered care and maintenance in 2025. It was the first mine Conuma reopened in 2016 and produced roughly 2.5 million tonnes per year at peak output.

Wolverine's Perry Creek pit exhausted its coal resources in April 2024. Conuma has proposed developing the Hermann Pit, which could produce an additional 1 million tonnes over the next decade.

Anglo American completed the sale of its Peace River Coal assets to Conuma in February 2025. The acquisition has the support of Treaty 8 First Nations — the West Moberly and Saulteau First Nations.

Vista is a notable outlier in Alberta's thermal coal story. Rather than supplying domestic power plants, Vista produces thermal coal for export to Asian markets — primarily Japan, South Korea, and China — shipped via CN Rail to Ridley Terminals in Prince Rupert, B.C.

Coal Valley is Westmoreland Mining's sole remaining Alberta operation, producing bituminous thermal coal for export to Japan and South Korea. The mine was temporarily placed on care and maintenance in June 2020 due to the pandemic but resumed in August 2021.

The last coal mine in Alberta that sells directly to the public. Family-owned and operated since 1956, this small surface mine near the village of Ryley produces heating coal for residential, commercial, and agricultural use across western Canada.

The Estevan mine supplies lignite coal to the Boundary Dam and Shand power stations. Production has been declining: the 2025 target represents a 28% drop from 2023 levels. Boundary Dam is also home to one of the world's first commercial-scale carbon capture and storage (CCS) units.

Poplar River consists of two active pits supplying lignite coal to the Poplar River Power Station. The community of Coronach, population roughly 700, is almost entirely dependent on the mine and power plant.