The open-pit Sukunka mine west of Tumbler Ridge would endanger caribou herds and grizzly bears, leave mercury and selenium in water, and infringe on First Nations rights to land uses such as hunting, and the harms couldn’t be adequately mitigated, the two levels of government found in a joint environmental assessment. The Logic reached out to Glencore for comment but was unable to reach a spokesperson. (The Logic)

Talking point: The Swiss-based mining company said it expected to spend about $450 million to establish the mine and a processing plant, extracting three million tonnes a year of metallurgical coal for 20 years or more. It’s used in steelmaking, as opposed to thermal coal, which is burned to produce electricity. Coal used in steelmaking still emits greenhouse gases, though. The federal government has been subsidizing Canadian steelmakers to switch from blast furnaces to electric-arc furnaces that don’t rely on coal, but the country remains a major exporter of metallurgical coal.