In early July, the first public comment period of the environmental assessment for the proposed Telkwa Coal mine ended with more than 500 comments submitted, most of which noted clear opposition to the project.

But Mark Gray, chairman and managing director of Telkwa Coal, also known as the "Tenas Project," thinks those submission are not representative of the community and the people he's been engaged with for more than five years.

"I've lived here for five years; we've been very visual and I have engaged very, very widely," Gray said.

"We've had many open houses, far more than we are required to under the environmental assessment process and I've heard a different message from the community," he added.

Gray said the hundreds of comments submitted to the BC Environmental Assessment office were not a necessary indicator of community sentiment in regards to the project.

There have been several iterations of coal mine proposals over the decades to get at the vast coal and methane deposit that sits beneath the surface of the Telkwa Range, however none have been developed since the days of pick axes and horse-drawn coal cars of the early 1900s.

The current proposal would remove more than 800,000 metric tonnes of metallurgical coal each year from the proposed mine site just seven kilometres from the community of Telkwa, which many who commented to the BC EAO cite concerns over water contamination, impacts to salmon and dust from the blasting of coal seams to develop the mine.

The company is no stranger to coal mines, developing projects in the US and in Australia where its parent company, Allegiance Coal, is bases. The proposal is still under review.

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