The company said it had been notified by the Alberta Energy Regulator of the decision to postpone the November 25 meeting.
Instead, the meeting will be held in two parts, one from December 9 through 13 in Calgary with respect to intervener Tourmaline Oil, and another from January 13 through 17 in Hinton focusing on three aboriginal interveners that have come forward.
Once complete, the AER will be required to release decisions on both hearings separately, each within 90 days of the respective event’s closing.
The initial November 25 meeting was announced on August 15, and since then all four intervening groups have submitted notice that they had insufficient time to prepare.
“Coalspur believes that all parties have had sufficient notice of, and time to prepare for, the hearing on November 25,” the company said.
“Irrespective, Coalspur will continue to engage with the interveners in advance of the hearings in pursuit of mutually beneficial agreements, and remains of the view that all relevant issues can be dealt with either before or during the hearings.”
In the meantime, the miner said it was examining the implications of the seven-week adjournment with its external and internal advisers.
“One of the likely implications is that first production from Vista will no longer be possible in 2015,” it said.
Regardless, Coalspur said, it felt a strong application had been submitted to the agency and that it had extensively consulted with regional stakeholders, including numerous aboriginal groups.
“[We have also] completed the technical and environmental requirements for regulatory approval, and illustrated that Vista is an economically feasible project, which could provide the Hinton region with economic benefits for up to 30 years,” the company said.
Coalspur had said that Vista was one of the largest undeveloped export thermal coal projects in North America, with measured and indicated coal resources of more than 1 billion short tons and marketable reserves of 313Mt.
Vista covers about 10,000 hectares, providing a large-scale surface mineable thermal coal project containing a strike length of more than 20km of continuous gently dipping coal seams.
The proposed complex is located adjacent to CN Rail's main line, which is suitable for the transport of coal to deepwater ports on Canada's west coast.
Coalspur has secured a port allocation agreement with Ridley Terminals for export of coal from the mine to the Asia-Pacific region.
