The Vancouver-based company said it initially planned to seek a small mine permit, but instead will submit its EA documentation to the British Columbia Ministry of the Environment.

That process has mandatory timelines and typically spans about 18-20 months.

Under the former plan, Central South would have operated at about 245,000 tons per annum in its first phase, later stepping up to 3Mtpa of met product after permitting and an EA.

"The board has concluded that the best approach going forward is to forego the small mine phase and immediately begin the environmental assessment process," First Coal president Doug Smith said.

"This will mean that there will only be one permitting process and the mine would open at a higher annual rate of production, making it more profitable in the early years than previously contemplated."

Smith told ILN that the property, set to be the first highwall in the country, will have an initial rate of 1Mtpa when it commences production in 2013.

The company expects to receive the environmental certificate in 2012, after which time mine facilities and infrastructure construction will start.

Next month, First Coal will conduct test mining at the Central South property with its ADDCAR Any Dip Highwall Mining System, a modified miner unit produced by ICG ADDCAR that was recently delivered to the site.

The unit was chosen for some special circumstances, according to the company’s plans.

“[The company] is currently developing its Central South property which has narrow, steeply dipping coal seams from one to three metres wide; the coal is held in folded seams that dip from 55 degrees to near vertical,” officials said.

“To extract these coal resources in a safe, economical, productive and environmentally sensitive manner … to extract coal from seams exposed on the highwalls of excavated trenches.”

The official noted that the mine would be the first in the world to mine steeply dipping coal seams using this method.

Once in production, Central South’s output will be transported via rail to Prince Rupert’s Ridley Island coal terminal.

Tonnage will help supply a dramatic increase in demand from China’s steelmakers for northeastern British Columbia coal.

Based on geological and engineering studies, the mine has a lifespan of 10 to 15 years. The final number will hinge on the mine’s selected annual rate of production.

Established in 2004, First Coal is developing Central South as well as South Cirque.

Both are under tenure license from Canada’s provincial government and are within lands under Treaty 8, an agreement between the government and certain First Nations in western Canada.