Open Pit Mind

Pit-for-brains premier promised Grassy Mountain would be an underground mine. Not so, says her Aussie beastie Gina Rinehart in Northback’s new project description

Actual AI scan of pro-coal separatist brain

“You can’t do open pit mining and you can’t do strip mining -- but if you can find techniques that allow you to do new underground mining, then we’re going to be open to approving those projects.”

“My understanding is that the AER just approved some test well drilling for Northback at Grassy Mountain to allow them to see if they have the ability to do that underground mining. You have to be at a certain depth to make it profitable and I’m just going to watch and see the outcome of that.” — Danielle Smith, May 2025

David McIntyre

Why can’t Alberta Premier Danielle Smith or Brian Jean, Alberta’s Minister of Energy and Minerals, answer a simple question?

The question: If a coal mining proposal is approved for Grassy Mountain, would it employ open pit mining?

The question, presented to Premier Smith and Minister Jean long before, during, and after last June’s Fort Macleod Coal Town Hall meeting, has not been answered definitively.

People who wrote to Minister Jean requesting an answer to the question, after waiting more than five months, recently received letters from the Minister. While laden with superfluous text, all the letters I’ve seen failed to answer the question. Why?

Northback has just released its terms of reference (TOR) to mine coal in Grassy Mountain. That TOR identifies its plan for an “open pit” mine. In other words, the proponent appears poised to apply for a permit that is in direct conflict with public assurances provided by Premier Smith and Minister Jean.

A new proposal is not an advanced project. It is, by definition, new.

All of the replies I’ve seen from Minister Jean, while failing to address the question, convey assurances that no new open pit coal mines will be allowed. His words: “… we have banned mountaintop removal and new open-pit coal mines in the foothills.”

The picture as I see it: a vague, verbal, muddy mix of words that, when translated, appears to place Northback at the head of the table, in full command of policy, procedure, protocol, and issue-defining outcomes.

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