Property owner Compliance Energy Corporation expects Raven to be mined by the room and pillar method, using conveyor transportation to the surface.

Average tonnage processed onsite will be 1.93 million tonnes raw, resulting in a total annual production of 850,000t of saleable semi-soft metallurgical and thermal middlings coal over the mining term.

Processed production will range from 650,000t to 1.1Mt per annum after initial start-up, and the final product will be transported to Port Alberni on Vancouver Island’s west coast for market to Asian coal markets, most likely Japan and Korea.

Compliance Energy president and chief executive John Tapics said he was pleased to receive the terms of reference for the environmental assessment of Raven.

“We have been gathering environmental baseline information on the project since mid-2009, and with this milestone now achieved, we are free to complete our environmental assessment applications,” he said.

“Submission of these applications is expected before year end.”

Compliance Energy Corporation is a mining exploration and development company with interest in over 31,000 hectares of coal rights on Vancouver Island, including mineral exploration properties totaling over 24,000 hectares of the area.