CALGARY — Corb Lund has said metallurgical coal is a “sunset industry,” but the data suggests the debate is more complicated.On a recent appearance on Ryan Jespersen’s show, the country music singer argued Alberta should leave its metallurgical coal reserves in the ground, saying the industry is in long-term decline and that the province's contribution to global supply would be insignificant.“It’s a sunset industry, a lot of places are starting to use non-coal based methods to make steel,” Lund said, adding that there are existing jurisdictions that have vast reserves of “better metallurgical coal than we do that aren’t stopping.”“There’s no reason for us to add our tiny amount to the mix,” he said.His comments come after an Elections Alberta verification process last week found the country music singer’s citizen initiative petition seeking to ban new coal mining in the Eastern Slopes of the Rocky Mountains had failed to meet the threshold required to force a province-wide referendum..Corb Lund considering court challenge after Elections Alberta rejects anti-coal petition .However, current steelmaking data suggests the transition away from metallurgical coal is further off than critics such as Lund are suggesting.Steelmakers are investing in lower-emission technologies such as electric arc furnaces and hydrogen-based steel production, but according to the World Steel Association, approximately 70% of the world's steel is still produced through the blast furnace-basic oxygen furnace route, which relies on metallurgical coal as a key raw material.The association also forecasts global steel demand will continue rising, reaching 1.724 billion tonnes in 2026 and 1.762 billion tonnes in 2027.The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) latest Steel Outlook also projects global steel demand will continue to grow through 2030, with most of the demand coming from Asian markets, in particular India, Japan, South Korea, and China.The OECD notes that India is adding another 31.8 million tonnes of steelmaking capacity by 2028 and reports that large-scale blast furnaces — which rely on metallurgical coal — are still being installed in emerging Asian economies.Demand in India — the world's fastest-growing major steel market — is forecast to remain strong, increasing from 159.8 million tonnes in 2025 to 187.4 million tonnes by 2027..'COAL HAS BEEN VILLAINIZED': Expert pushes back against Corb Lund's Water Not Coal campaign.In January, Reuters reported India's steel minister H.D. Kumaraswamy said after a bilateral meeting with Canada's Minister of Natural Resources Tim Hodgson that Indian state-run miner NMDC was “actively exploring” coal reserves in Canada to boost India’s steel manufacturing capacity.That announcement came as Prime Minister Mark Carney looked to diversify Canada's global trade partners in light of tariffs from US President Donald Trump and the current, unstable geopolitical situation.The metallurgical coal issue is particularly relevant to Alberta because one of the projects named in Lund's petition was Northback Holdings Corp.'s proposed Grassy Mountain metallurgical coal mine near Crowsnest Pass.A report commissioned by Northback estimated the project would contribute approximately $2.2 billion in provincial revenues over its 26-year lifespan and generate a total economic impact of roughly $7.1 billion to Alberta's GDP.Northback says the revised version of the project would produce approximately 2.5 million tonnes of metallurgical coal annually, down from an earlier proposal of about 4.5 million tonnes.The company estimates the mine would create between 300 and 400 direct permanent jobs and generate approximately $530 million in annual export revenues.Canada as a whole remains a large player in global metallurgical coal markets.Natural Resources Canada reports the country produced 42.6 million tonnes of coal in 2024, with approximately 67% classified as metallurgical coal, and it was also the world’s fifth-largest exporter of metallurgical coal that year.China received roughly 33% of Canadian metallurgical coal exports, followed by Japan at 22% and South Korea at 21%.The debate in Alberta is now not whether metallurgical coal demand is disappearing but whether the province should participate in meeting that worldwide demand going forward.
