Coalspur’s projects have a key competitive advantage with their direct access and close proximity to established under-utilized first world rail and port infrastructure. This infrastructure will enable Coalspur to access to the growing demand for thermal coal from the Asian Pacific Rim countries, including China, Japan and Korea.
Canadian National Railway (“CN”) is one of the largest rail providers in North America and has a substantial coal freight service division. CN operates a heavy gauge rail line that is adjacent to Vista, which is substantially underutilized and provides Coalspur access to deepwater ports on the west coast of Canada.
The west coast of Canada hosts several deepwater ports that handle coal shipments. These ports are accessible through CN’s rail line which is adjacent to Vista. The closest port to Vista is the Ridley Island Coal Terminal (“Ridley Coal Terminal”) which is located at the Port of Prince Rupert. The Ridley Coal Terminal is the most northern deep water port in North America and has the ability to handle capesize vessels up to 250,000 DWT. The Ridley Coal Terminal has an annual shipping capacity of approximately 12Mt and has announced plans to expand to 24Mt by 2014.
