The Trend-Roman Mine is owned by Peace River Coal, Inc., an entity which is wholly owned by Conuma Resources, Ltd. (Conuma). Conuma acquired the Trend-Roman Mine as part of its acquisition of Peace River Coal from Anglo American; this acquisition closed on February 11, 2025.
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Summary:
The Trend-Roman property is organized into three primary blocks: the Trend South Block, Trend Extension Block, and the Roman Block. Historic mining has occurred in all three blocks to varying degrees.
The Trend South and Trend Extension blocks are homoclines that contain little to no major faulting. This aligns with the Moderate category described in Geologic Survey of Canada’s GSC Paper 88-21. However, steep dips between 60 to 75 degrees require more drilling to model than typical moderate deposits, which have dips less than 30 degrees. For this reason, Trend South and Trend Extension are considered to be somewhere between the Moderate and Complex definition described in GSC Paper 88-21.
The Roman deposit is characterized by tight folding and faulting, which aligns closely with the definition for Complex geology described in GSC Paper 88-21.
Trend mine
The Trend South and Extension Blocks are located on the northeast limb of the Waterfall Creek anticline. Rock units of the Gates, Moosebar and Gething Formations are near surface and remain coherent, with faulting resulting in minimal stratigraphic displacement.
Trend Coal Seams
The Trend deposit is composed of six major coal seams within the Gates Formation, from the D Seam at the top through the E, F, G, J and K Seams in descending stratigraphic order and four main seams in the Gething formation including the Bird, GT1, GT2 and GT3 seams. Several subsidiary seams have been identified but are considered non-economic.
K Zone: This consists of three zones in the project area, individually designated K1, K2 and K3-seams, of which K3 is generally the thickest. They represent an aggregate coal thickness of 2.39 m within a stratigraphic interval of 6 to 11 m.
J-seam: This is a very clean seam containing only thin rock bands which occur either in the mid-section of the seam or near the top. Typically, the rock bands comprise no more than 10 percent of the seam thickness. On the property, J-seam varies from 3.70 to 6.12 m thick. The roof and floor of the seam are claystone (or shale). J-seam is separated from K Zone by 10 to 14 m.
F-seam: With the exception of a thin layer of boney coal at its top, this is a very clean coal seam, typically containing only a few thin rock bands. The boney coal at the top of the seam grades laterally (and upward) into coaly or carbonaceous claystone. The floor of the seam is composed of claystone. Seam thickness ranges between 1.49 and 3.81 m. The separation between seams F and G/I is 4 to 18 m.
E-seam: This seam typically contains two distinct rock bands, though the individual coal splits are quite clean, with only a few very thin partings. The main rock bands are variable in thickness and are usually found in the lower two-thirds of the seam. E-seam develops more rock bands towards the northwest and the lower rock band thickens; the roof and floor are composed of claystone. Inter-seam separation between E- and F-seams is 13 to 30 m.
D-seam: This is a relatively clean seam. The roof of D-seam varies locally and regionally from a claystone through to a conglomerate while the floor is predominately claystone. The inter-seam thickness between D and E-seams averages 11 to 25 m.
Gething Coal Seams
Up to four Gething coal seams have been correlated regionally. In descending stratigraphic order, they are referred to as the Bird, GT1, GT2 and GT3 seams. On the Trend property, these coals are contained in the locally known Bird-GT zone, found near the top of the Gething Formation. Gething coals are included in Trend South Block and Trend Extension Block coal resources where acceptable thicknesses are attained. The typical aggregate thickness of coal seams greater than 1 m thick is about 8 m in Trend South and 6 m in Trend Extension.
Roman mine
The Murray Syncline is the predominant structural feature of the Roman Block and is a tight fold typical of the area. The syncline is asymmetrical with the northeast limb dipping fairly uniformly at 50 to 60° to the southwest. The southwest limb dips generally steeper, up to 80°. The fold axial trend is 310°, with the hinge plunging at an average of 7.5° to the northwest.
Roman Block Coal Seams
The Roman deposit is composed of six major coal seams within the Gates Formation, from the D Seam at the top through the E, F, G, J and K Seams in descending stratigraphic order and four main seams in the Gething formation including the Bird, GT1, GT2 and GT3 seams. Several subsidiary seams have been identified but are considered non-economic. Seam nomenclature is consistent with that of Trend Mine and other mines in the area.
The Upper Gates Formation comprises a 20-m thick zone of predominantly fine-grained sandstone containing occasional carbonaceous zones, thin claystone beds and at least four thin coal seams overlying the 10-m thick Babcock Member or D conglomerate. Its upper half is almost entirely sandstone and the lower half primarily well sorted granule conglomerate and sandstone.
Gates Formation
D-seam: The characteristic D Seam package identified persists throughout the southeast half of the deposit. The interburden between the D Seam and E Seam comprises predominantly fine-grained sandstone 20 to 25 m thick.
E-seam: The E Seam package is found throughout the deposit. Variations in partings and thickness sometimes makes identification of E2 Seam difficult. The E Seam is separated from the F Seam by approximately 20 m of siltstone.
F-seam: This seam appears to thin slightly to the northwest but retains economic thickness throughout the southeast part of the area. The F and G Seam interburden is about 50 m thick and comprises siltstone, silty sandstone and fine-grained sandstone. The lower 10 m fines downward into a carbonaceous claystone.
G-seam: This seam is developed over the entire deposit. The upper part of the seam contains thin claystone laminae and the bottom metre grades into a carbonaceous siltstone that forms the base of the seam. The G Seam is separated from the I Seam by a 0.5 to 1 m thick carbonaceous claystone.
I-seam: The I Seam is a thin, shaly coal that is not of economic interest. The interburden between the I and J Seam is a 2-m thick claystone.
J-seam: This seam has a consistent thickness of about 6-7 m over Roman Mountain. The upper half of the seam might contain thin shaly partings, but the lower half is invariably clean. The interburden between the J and K Seams comprises a 12-m thick, fine-grained sandstone and sandy siltstone. The J Seam normally forms the base of the economic coal zone.
K-seam: The K Seam package comprises three seams (K1, K2 and K3), each separated by between 1 and 4 m of siltstone. The seam thicknesses are on average 1.1, 0.8 and 0.6 m, respectively. The sequence below the K Seam comprises a 20-m thick siltstone overlying persistent 1 m thick clay (unconsolidated ash fall). This clay has implications with respect to geotechnical design due to its mineralogical properties. The clay overlies a 15-m thick, fine-grained sandstone.
L-seam: The L Seam comprises a non-economic unit up to 2 m thick and overlies between 20 and 25 m of siltstone and claystone of the Lower Gates Formation. The L-seam is primarily of interest in geotechnical design.
The Lower Gates Formation grades downwards into the 100 to 140 m thick Moosebar Formation. The base of the Moosebar Formation is defined by the 1 to 2 m thick, glauconitic sandstone.
Gething Formation
The top of the Gething Formation is defined by the Bird Seam. The parting between the Bird Seam and the GT Coal Zone comprises a 1- to 2-m thick claystone.
The GT Coal Zone comprises three well-defined coal seams (the GT1, GT2 and GT3 Seams). At this juncture of the project seams have been modelled as a package into the GT Coal Zone.