Rise And Fall Of The Nova Scotia Coal Industry Essays - Coal Mining

Rise And Fall Of The Nova Scotia Coal Industry Introduction Coal mining has always been an important component of Nova Scotia's economy, landscape and culture. Together with cod fishing it was the primary export and employer for the regions population. With both industries now failing, the poor economic climate will no doubt have an effect on the population. This paper attempts to examine the economic conditions, market forces, and political maneuvering that gave rise to the coal industry in Nova Scotia as well as those contributing to its demise. Coal Formation The first stage in the formation of the fossil fuel we know as coal is large accumulations of organic matter, an anoxic environment, and large amounts of time. Dead plant material readily decomposes when exposed to the oxygen rich atmosphere so an oxygen poor environment is required. Common environments meeting these conditions were swamps of the Carboniferous period. As plant life died in these swamps the dead organic matter sank into the oxygen deficient stagnant water where it was partially decomposed by bacteria. This partial decomposition lead to an accumulation of a spongy brown material known as peat. Peat itself can serve as an energy source albeit not a very efficient one. The next stage in coal development involves the burying of the peat accumulations by layers of sediment (Montgomery, 1990). As the peat is buried more and more pressure and heat is exerted upon the peat squeezing out the water and various gasses (volatiles) and increasing the carbon content (Lutgens, Tarbu ck, 1993). With shallow burial one gets lignite, a soft brown coal. Then as more and more sediment is loaded on top of the deposit more water and volatiles are pressed out increasing the carbon content changing lignite to bituminous coal. With even more pressure and heat, like the kind associated with mountain building one gets anthracitic coal. So generally the more pressure and heat that the peat experiences the higher the concentration of carbon and the more efficient the fuel. However, too much heat and pressure may result in the changing of coal to graphite (See Fig. 1). Fig. 1 Graph illustrating the relationship between carbon concentration and fuel efficiency. Note the decline in heating value as more volatiles are removed Source: Montgomery 1990. The coal present in eastern Canada was formed in the Fundy Basin of deposition. This basin developed after the Acadian orogeny . After these mountains were formed they immediately underwent physical and chemical weathering, and sediment washed down their slopes to be deposited in the Fundy Basin. In the Fundy basin sediment was further deposited in various sub basins compacting the peat layers present and forming the coalfields of Nova Scotia. The Riversdale fields were the first to be covered by sediment and therefore the oldest followed by the Cumberland deposits and the youngest and most extensive deposits, the Pictou group (Calder, 1985). Rise of the Coal Industry The first historical mention of coal in Nova Scotia was by then Governor Nicholas Denys in dispatches to France in 1673. In his dispatches he wrote that there was a mountain of good coal four leagues up the Spanish River near Cow Bay, Cape Breton Island. The first mining operation to be set up was by the French Acadians to supply the fortress of Louisbourg with coal for heating and various industrial uses. Mining in Pictou county started in 1807 after the discovery of coal there in 1798 by Reverend James MacGregor. Other entrepreneurs quickly realized the potential for profits and several sank small mines into the area (Calder, 1985). The age of the private locally operated mines would soon come to an end however. The King of England at the time was George the IV whose brother was Frederick, the Duke of York. Through his high living and gambling Frederick had incurred a substantial debt. In August of 1826 the King granted upon Frederick a sixty-year lease on all of the mineral rights of the province of Nova Scotia to assist him in paying his debt. Frederick then transferred the right to the General Mining association in 1827. Many thought it unfair that the GMA have a monopoly on all the coal mining in Nova Scotia and the Nova Scotia Legislature had the monopoly