From the Wednesday, February 23, 2005 online edition of the Missoulian . . .
The price of coal has skyrocketed in the last year or so as China has become a world economic power and a net importer of high-quality "coke" coal to fuel its burgeoning steel factories.
Japan, struggling out of a decade of economic stagnation, likes that coke coal, too.
Meanwhile, times have been tough in British Columbia's mining industry, and the provincial government is eager to mine the rich coal deposits of the province - including coal in the headwaters of the Flathead River Basin, one of the headwaters of Flathead Lake in northwestern Montana.
According to a recent report in the Vancouver (B.C.) Sun: "Minister of State for (B.C.) Mining Pat Bell corralled senior executives of five junior mining firms for a meeting to discuss the situation, and all agreed that B.C. has never been in a better position to take advantage of the growing global market for metallurgical or steelmaking coal."
Which is a big reason why members of the Flathead Basin Commission were fretting Tuesday in Kalispell. It was the commission's first meeting of 2005, and the news since their meeting last fall was not good.
Read the entire article . . .