Athabasca Minerals to purchase CN-served transloading terminal

Athabasca Minerals Inc. announced today that it has reached an agreement to purchase a private rail transloading facility near Obed, Alberta, from Coal Valley Resources Inc., a subsidiary of Westmoreland Coal Co. CN serves the facility.

Under the agreement, Athabasca will acquire Coal Valley's rights to the provincial government lease of land on which the Obed facility is located, and all load out infrastructure for $6 million (in Canadian dollars), according to a press release issued by Athabasca.

Located about 42 miles west of Edson, the facility was used by Coal Valley in its operation of the Obed Mountain Mine to load coal into rail cars for transportation to Canada's West Coast.

Athabasca intends to use the facility for aggregate processing and transloading, as well as for frac sand storage and distribution. An acquisition closing is expected in the fourth quarter.