Details:  A major resource of lignite to sub­bituminous B coal exists in a graben, 26 kilometres long and 4 kilometres wide, that occupies the Hat Creek Valley. The Tertiary rocks in the graben contain a coal member that is about 1200 metres thick, of which up to 550 metres is coal. This is one of the thickest accumulations of coal in the world.  Two potential mining areas have been outlined and designated as deposits 1 in the north and 2 in the south. Deposit 1 contains two coal seams. The upper is 120 to 250 metres thick and the lower, which is 450 to 550 metres thick, is divided into 3 parts. The deposit is faulted and seams are folded and moderately to steeply dipping. The area contains a resource of about 10 billion tonnes, of which approximately 500 million tones of proven reserve are within the Number 1 deposit. The area was considered for development in conjunction with the construction of a thermal power plant, but at the moment plans are shelved.

This interactive map displays detailed geology of the Hat Creek area and includes exploration wells, photo locations (double click to view photos), geological cross sections (double click to view sections), outcrop locations and gravity data.  The Coal Assessment Reports layer displays the location of 31 reports, including some exploration data from the reports, such as trench, borehole and bulk sample information.  This data is from the COALFILE which is available for download.  The Hat Creek area also has 138 BC Hydro reports available for viewing.

View Hat Creek Map

The following links are from the Oil and Gas Division:

Contacts & Additional Information: