In 1878, the geologist George Dawson, visited the Crowsnest Pass and reported that there were large quantities of coal in the area. Underground mining began in the Grassy Mountain area in 1909 and open pits operated within the Grassy Mountain surface mine area in the late 1950's. All the mines on the Alberta side of the pass were closed by the end of the 20th century as more economical open-pit mines opened on the British Columbia side of the pass.
The Grassy Mountain property has been the subject of coal exploration by Scurry Rainbow using drilling, trenching and adit construction from 1970 to 1972 and Consol Energy Inc conducted a drilling program and a bulk sample extraction of 54,000 tonnes from 1973 to 1975. Both coking coal and mid ash thermal products were targeted in this past exploration.