The Westmoreland Coal Company’s mines are a popular attraction for one of the top initiatives offered by Tourism Estevan.
The Energy Tours are offered annually in late spring and for much of the summer. The first tours for the year were offered after the Victoria Day long weekend.
Those who want to take the tours meet at the Estevan Leisure Centre, and then they are taken to the Boundary mine site south of the city, as well as the SaskPower Shand Power Station and the SaskPower Shand Greenhouse.
Rebecca Westling, the destination marketing/communications consultant for the City of Estevan, said people get to go right into the mine pit during the tour.
“They get to see what the dragline looks like from above, because the dragline is usually working down into the pit,” said Westling. “They can see how the trucks are loaded … so they can actually see the different layers as well of the coal and how the strip mining works.”
Then they go to Shand to see what happens once the coal mined and how it provides electricity. The greenhouse provides a look at a different aspect of SaskPower’s operations.
It usually takes two or 2 1/2 hours to complete a tour, depending on how long people want to be there, and if they have questions.
Westling said the tours are an important part of Tourism Estevan.
“We have people coming from all over Saskatchewan and North Dakota,” said Westling. “We’ve had people coming from Germany other years, and Australia.”
Chloe Hjorteland is back for a second straight year as the tour guide. Westling said it will be beneficial having her back for another year.
“It’s a lot of information and statistics and numbers, and when a person doesn’t know a lot about tonnage, or square footage and what not (is tough),” said Westling.
Tour guides have to learn the capacity for each dragline, and how much they operate and those types of numbers.
She is also familiar with the carbon capture and storage process, which Westling said is good, because that is of interest to many people on the tour.
Westling said May is typically a slow time for the tours, but they have a lot of bookings for the coming months.
“We’re just starting out the season, so we haven’t gone on too many tours to start off with, but the bookings are going quite well. I’ve got lots of phone calls and lots of feedback going on.”
Once the new Visitor Information Centre inside the Estevan Leisure Centre is open, Westling hopes that it will provide a boost to the number of people taking the tour.
“I hope lots of people go on the tour, if they have never been on the tour,” said Westling. “We’re really looking forward to seeing that, and finding a different crowd of people that normally wouldn’t know about the energy tours.”
In May and June, the tours are offered Monday to Friday at 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. In July and August, the tours are offered from Tuesday to Saturday at the same times.
Westling recommends that people book a tour in advance to guarantee their spot, but they can show up and take the tour if space is available.
June is usually a busy time for the tours, with school students taking a trip to the mine site and the power station. It’s the month that has the most people, because of the volume of students, but there are more tours booked in July and August.
