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Alberta pays out $143 million to mining company over coal policy reversal

Click to play video: 'Premier Danielle Smith met with pushback at townhall on Alberta coal policy'
Premier Danielle Smith met with pushback at townhall on Alberta coal policy
WATCH (June 2025) Coal production continues to be a point of contention in southern Alberta. On Wednesday, Premier Danielle Smith and three cabinet ministers were in Fort Macleod hoping to calm concerns. Jordan Prentice reports. – Jun 12, 2025

The Alberta government is paying out more than $140 million to end one of five lawsuits launched against it over its coal mining policies.

A notice published online by Atrum Coal says the company has agreed to end its lawsuit and surrender its land back to the province in exchange for the payment.

The company says it received just under $137 million last week and will receive another $6 million after it completes some reclamation work.

These maps show where Atrum’s Elan coal project was located, just north of the Grassy Mountain coal project in the Crowsnest Pass. Atrum Coal

Atrum was one of two companies suing the province that announced last month that settlements were reached, but the other, Evolve Power, has yet to share details.

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The companies are among five that are suing Alberta for a collective $16 billion.

They argue that Alberta effectively expropriated their land after it suddenly reinstated its long-standing coal policy in 2022 less than two years after it was lifted and companies had been encouraged at that time to buy land for potential mining projects.

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