FACTS ‘N’ FIGURES — Canadian coal still strong

In 1996, the Canadian coal industry enjoyed record production and exports.

Nearly half of the country’s output was exported.

Production hit a record 75.8 million tonnes, up 1% from production in 1995.

Of this amount, 40 million tonnes were bituminous coal, 25 million tonnes were sub-bituminous, and 11 million tonnes was ligmite.

Nearly 96% of the coal was produced in the three westernmost provinces.

Alberta yielded more than 36 million tonnes of sub-bituminous and bituminous coal; British Columbia produced more than 25 million tonnes of bituminous coal; and Saskatchewan followed, with nearly 11 million tonnes of lignite.

Nova Scotia and New Brunswick together produced more than 3 million tonnes of bituminous coal.

Canada’s 1996 coal production was valued at $1.9 billion, up 5% from 1995.

Coal exports increased 1% to 34.5 million tonnes valued at $2.3 billion.

Coal was sold to 21 countries, the largest market being Japan (18.5 million tonnes), followed by South Korea (5.6 million tonnes). The largest coal-exporting province was British Columbia, which accounted for 71% of exports.

Domestic coal provided more than 42 million tonnes, or 79%, of all coal consumed in Canada in 1996, while imports supplied the remainder.

Canada’s 1996 coal consumption was 53.5 million tonnes, slightly higher than in the previous year. Forty-seven million tonnes were used to generate electricity in Canada last year. Industrial uses accounted for 6.5 million tonnes.

In 1996, Alberta, the country’s largest coal consumer, used close to 26 million tonnes of bituminous and sub-bituminous coal to generate electricity.

Saskatchewan used nearly 11 million tonnes of lignite for the same purpose.

Manitoba used a small amount of lignite as well as bituminous coal.

Ontario, which has no coal mines of its own, used nearly 7 million tonnes of coal to generate electricity — 35% of that coal came from Western Canada, with the rest imported from the U.S. The steel industry consumed almost 4.5 million tonnes, most of which was imported from the U.S. In addition, close to 1 million tonnes were used in each of Ontario and Quebec by industry. Nova Scotia consumed close to 3 million tonnes — all from mines in the province — to generate electricity. New Brunswick’s consumption — little more than 1 million tonnes — consisted of coal imported from the U.S. and Colombia.

— The preceding is excerpted from “Statistical Review of Coal in Canada, 1996,” published by Natural Resources Canada.