In a forceful statement released Wednesday, the Whitefish Lake First Nation and Ermineskin Cree Nation vowed to begin an “aggressive” campaign against the large open pit operation proposed for development on what the groups called “sensitive land” in the Hinton region of Alberta.

Ermineskin chief Craig Makinaw called the proposal "misguided, as well as politically and environmentally dangerous".

"At a time when the government of Alberta is trying so hard to position itself as a responsible steward of the environment, why would it even consider allowing the destruction of 470sq.km, much of which is pristine wilderness, just to help a foreign firm extract the dirtiest fuel on the planet?”

“Grizzly Bears, elk, and other wildlife will be seriously impacted by a project of this size. It's just not worth it.

“If Albertans knew what Coalspur was planning, they would oppose it. We're going to make sure they know."

The groups said in a statement announcing the campaign that the land in question was home to a wide variety of wildlife, headwaters to the critical Athabasca River and a key traditional use area and hunting grounds for the several thousand people in northern and central Alberta.

“This land is more important than coal,” the statement said.

The allied communities vowed that the campaign would be “aggressive” and include an international awareness campaign, intensive government lobbying and if needed, any and all legal and other grassroots ‘on the ground’ actions.

"We know what motivates Coalspur and it's not their impact on this beautiful land. It's profit. We will ensure that the cost of pursuing this project outweighs the benefits for Coalspur, their shareholders and their investors," Makinaw said.

"Coalspur seems to think they can run roughshod over the environment and the First Nations, who rely on this land. They are wrong. This project will be stopped," Whitefish chief James Jackson said.

Coalspur is an Australian Securities Exchange-listed, Canada-focused thermal coal development company with about 55,000ha of leases within the Hinton region of Alberta.

The project’s development plan will support a 6Mtpa thermal coal facility scheduled to be completed in mid-2015.

Coalspur said 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 tonnes and marketable reserves of 313 million tonnes.

Vista covers about 10,000ha, providing a large-scale surface mineable thermal coal project containing a strike length over 20km of continuous gently dipping coal seams.