Fernie BC?

Ardent said:
Tons available, but that's not even close to the best hunting in BC (while still decent and beautiful). If hunting was the focus rather than living, purely recreational, look at the North 6 and 7s.

Careful with basing the future on coal towns for now I'd caution, personal experience from Grande Cache. That town has collapsed as the mine closed from current prices, BC in all areas is floating high real estate wise, even the affordable places. A year or two from now you should see a decent drop as reality and commodities set in, except for perhaps the lower mainland due to Asian money.
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Coal mining in the Elk Valley is the most stable in north America, they have been mining there since the 1960's.
Teck Coal is a low cost producer of sea born metallurgical coal, unlike the mines in Grande Cache, Tumbler Ridge and the USA for example.

When the price of coal tanks every 5 years or so, all of the high cost producers go out of business, but the big low cost mines in the Elk Valley keep making money.
Their only competition is the Australians.

Unlike thermal coal which can be replaced with other energy sources like LNG, there is no substitute for steelmaking coal.
It's used as coke in the blast furnaces of steel mills throughout the world, as long as the world needs steel, there will be a demand for met coal.

The biggest mine in the Elk Valley, Fording River for example, has over 75 years of proven reserves.

So if you get a job at Fording, Elkview, or Greenhills, you will probably have a job for life.
 
The Outsider said:
Coal mining in the Elk Valley is the most stable in north America, they have been mining there since the 1960's.
Teck Coal is a low cost producer of sea born metallurgical coal, unlike the mines in Grande Cache, Tumbler Ridge and the USA for example.

When the price of coal tanks every 5 years or so, all of the high cost producers go out of business, but the big low cost mines in the Elk Valley keep making money.
Their only competition is the Australians.

Unlike thermal coal which can be replaced with other energy sources like LNG, there is no substitute for steelmaking coal.
It's used as coke in the blast furnaces of steel mills throughout the world, as long as the world needs steel, there will be a demand for met coal.

The biggest mine in the Elk Valley, Fording River for example, has over 75 years of proven reserves.

So if you get a job at Fording, Elkview, or Greenhills, you will probably have a job for life.
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Grande Cache is / was also low cost, top quality coking / metallurgic coal, with one of the lowest extraction costs going and huge reserves. I'd be cautious staking everything on coal is all I'm saying to freddyfour, Grande Cache has literally collapsed with the mine closure and is trying to no longer exist / bankrupt as a county. All resource work and towns are highly volatile as oil & gas, the former golden child, has shown us too.

 
Grande Cache has collapsed at least a couple of times since I moved to BC in the late '70's.

The Elk Valley has never really ever had a layoff.

I've been coal mining steady in BC since 1984,
6-7 more years and I'll retire with a defined pension to spend the rest of my days reloading,hunting, riding my motorcycle etc.

Despite what the mines in Grande Cache claimed on their website, they are not as low cost as Teck,
if they were they would still be in business.
 
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They missed spelt that town.......shewdda bin "Furrrnie".
Small towns are a gamble in itself.
I remember when Logan Lake realstate fetched mawr'in the cost of a house in Vancouver.
If'n you don't remember this, yer a whipper snapper.

I'm dew fer a small town change.
Can't take this holie'n thou attitittude here locally.
Milk the system they izz.
 
Dunt trust yah.......yer after me BLR........eye know yer type............:runaway:

Itt'd kawst me a fortewnt tuh move awll this chit that far.
Yeah, I'd fit the portfoliolow of Cranbrook.
 
If you bike, ski, hunt or fish (preferably all 4) come on down.
Hippy? Meh that's Nelson.
Rifle night at the range is Tuesday, trap is Wednesday, if you want to shoot by yourself I don't think I've ever seen more than 3 benches occupied at a time.
Spring to the end of school juniors shoot with free ammo and club guns on Monday nights. Kids archery runs year round indoor in winter, outdoor in summer (maybe not during summer holidays?).
Real estate is hit and miss as prices shown are not necessarily what things are selling for. There's everything from tar paper shacks to multimulti million dollar homes. The best success is had by finding a good agent or renting and driving around looking for sale by owner or brand new listings.
Other opinions in the thread are all valid, I could go on but you get the drift.
I will never willingly leave.
 
MiG25 said:
Do you like shoveling snow?

Fernie has way too many hippies and Australians.
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Again, Nelson.
Aussies for the most part are whistler and banff (because they're "party towns"). There are lots of brits though.
Of course any hippies are too many so you're technically correct.
Don't get me started on the aussies.
 
I lived in Windermere near Radium Hot Springs for about 1 year. While it was gods country and everything was beautiful, it wasn't really all that great. If you're moving out there with a family maybe it will be a little better however it's expensive there in terms of gas and groceries etc. I was young and single so breaking into groups of friends was hard, I knew nobody and people tried to help me out but in the end I couldn't imagine living like I did for more than I did.

I loved the area but I decided to move back to Ontario. I wasn't even able to get a hunting license as you have to wait a year of being a resident. I enjoyed the $40 a year range and the hiking and since I drove so much, I also saw like 300 elk crossing the roads almost on a daily basis. I am young and that place was holding me down. If I was 45+ with a family, I'd consider it but having to drive 3 1/2 hours to get to a mall gets old really quick. My 2 cents.

I went to Fernie alot. Beautiful little town, expensive, not alot of amenities etcc. It was similar to Invermere or Golden or towns like that with ski resorts close by.
 
The Outsider said:
Teck Coal is a low cost producer of sea born metallurgical coal, unlike the mines in Grande Cache, Tumbler Ridge and the USA for example.
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The Quintette coal mine in Tumbler Ridge that is not currently operating due to depressed global coal prices making it unfeasable to pull coal out of the ground at current going rates is owned by, wait for it,..........Teck. It along with 3 others right around town are all not operating for the same reason. Living in Tumbler Ridge for the past 4 years has taught me that I am glad I never got in to the coal mining business in this area if nothing else. I almost jumped ship early on in my tenure and applied at the mines but ultimately did not which is good because I'd have been unemployed within 6 months to a year depending on which mine I'd gone to work for.

I'm glad you have been steadily employed and continue to be, but my experience here has left me wary of mining in general and it is not something I'd recommend to someone contemplating a move to the area(even if there were any operational mines around) . That said, sounds like mining in your neck of the woods is much more stable.
 
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You're right, not all of Teck Coal mines are profitable these days
Besides Quintette being shut down, they are going to close Coal Mountain next year, and Cardinal River in Hinton is scheduled to be closed at the end of 2019.
But Fording River, Elkview and Greenhills will probably be operating for decades.
I worked at Quintette for 16 years myself, before it closed in 2000.
 
Iron Sighted said:
That Quintette site is beautiful when you get up top, terrific views. Wish I'd been here when the old conveyor was still there, sounds like it was something to see.
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That 13 k long conveyor was a bit of an albatross around their neck if I remember correctly. Lots of maintenance issues.

But yes the views up there were impressive. I remember working night shifts in the mid 1980s and seeing the awesome northern lights too. It seemed you could almost reach up and touch them as they danced across the sky.

Great snowmobiling memories as well.
Still have a few buddies there.
 
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Donny Fenn1 said:
Again, Nelson.
Aussies for the most part are whistler and banff (because they're "party towns"). There are lots of brits though.
Of course any hippies are too many so you're technically correct.
Don't get me started on the aussies.
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"Why can't ya get a blow job in Austrailia? ... Cause all the #### suckers are in Whislta mate!!!"

Love that one!

Anyway, work is always an issue with these incredible spots in BC... But you will make it! I couldn't handle the city another moment, and my wife and I moved to Powell River. If you like fishing (salt and fresh) and hunting (of course), boating, lakes, dirt biking, quading, camping blah blah blah, I honestly think you might be hard pressed to find a better place to live.

We purchased two years ago for $182,000... House is 1945 built and beautiful, big back yard, and a one minute walk from the ocean, and ten minutes from the nearest lake. I recommend checking out some real estate websites for Powell River at the very least... You may get hooked!
 
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