Western Canadian Coal enters into a definitive agreement to acquire Falls Mountain Coal Inc.

TSX: WTN, WTN.DB and AIM: WTN

VANCOUVER, Feb. 28 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Western Canadian Coal Corp (TSX: WTN and WTN.DB and AIM: WTN) ("Western" or the "Company") announces that as contemplated under the conditional agreement (the "Agreement") between the Company and Cambrian Mining plc ("Cambrian") announced on December 3, 2007, and the amendment to the terms of the Agreement, announced on February 25, 2008, the Company has entered into a definitive agreement in respect of the sale of Falls Mountain Coal Inc. ("FMC") to Western by Cambrian.

The Company believes that the acquisition of FMC will result in a number of significant benefits, including:

- Capital cost savings of approximately $70 million in developing the
Company's Brule mine to its full capacity;
- Increase the Company's run-of-mine coal reserves by approximately
15.7 million tonnes or by 18%. The FMC reserves consist of
approximately 60% PCI coal and 40% hard coking coal ("HCC");
- Allow the Company to begin producing PCI coal from Willow Creek as
soon as September 2008 to take advantage of the record coal prices
expected in coal year 2008;
- Increase Western's market presence as a global leader in the PCI coal
market segment and through a blend of Wolverine and Willow Creek HCC,
produce a premium HCC product unique to the marketplace; and,
- Synergies created between the Brule mine and Willow Creek mine which
will reduce operating, transportation and overhead costs.

Applicable rules of the Toronto Stock Exchange require that the acquisition of FMC be approved by a majority vote of shareholders of the Company other than Cambrian and its affiliates and associates. Based on the recommendation of a special committee of independent directors of Western and a fairness opinion, the Board of Directors of the Company will be recommending that shareholders of Western approve the acquisition of FMC.

Western will be holding a special meeting of the shareholders of the Company on March 31, 2008 to consider the approval of the acquisition of FMC and has established a record date for determining shareholders entitled to receive notice of the special meeting on Thursday, February 28, 2008. Western expects that the management information circular and related meeting materials for the special meeting will be mailed out to shareholders of the Company in early March.

About Falls Mountain Coal

FMC owns the Willow Creek coal properties, wash plant and rail load out facilities and is located in northeast British Columbia. Willow Creek is located close to Western's Brazion Group of assets, which includes the Brule mine. The wash plant has a current annual capacity of 2.2 million tonnes. With certain modifications, the wash plant can be expanded to approximately 3.0 million tonnes of annual capacity to handle coal from both Brule and Willow Creek. The ability to process coal at Willow Creek's facilities will eliminate the need for the Company to construct a wash plant and load out facility at Brule. The Company expects to restart operations at Willow Creek in the second quarter of fiscal year 2009 with initial plans to produce up to 60,000 tonnes per month of PCI coal.

About Cambrian

Cambrian is a diversified mining house that manages and supports operations in coal and gold/antimony mining. It also has extensive exposure to energy projects and related technologies, from oil shale assets through to alternative energy projects, as well as exposure to traditional oil and gas exploration and development.

Cambrian has been instrumental in the past three years in supporting the development of a number of mines and moving them into production. These include: the Augusta gold and antimony mine in Victoria, Australia; the Wolverine hard coking coal mine in Western Canada; the Dillon and Brule PCI mines in Western Canada as well as underground metallurgical coal and underground and surface thermal coal mines in West Virginia, USA.

Cambrian, through its wholly-owned subsidiaries, currently holds approximately 48.4 million common shares of Western, representing approximately 42% of Western's issued and outstanding shares. Mr. John Byrne, Chairman of Western, is also Chairman of Cambrian and holds approximately 6.9% of the outstanding shares of Cambrian. Mr. John Conlon, a director of Western, is also a director of Cambrian and holds approximately 0.9% of the outstanding shares of Cambrian.

About Western Canadian Coal

Western Canadian Coal Corp. produces 3.1 million tonnes of high quality metallurgical coal from two mines located in the northeast of British Columbia. The Company also has interests in various coal properties in northern and southern British Columbia and a 50% interest in the Belcourt Saxon Limited Partnership, which was formed to explore and develop the Belcourt and Saxon group of properties in northern BC. Currently, these properties provide the Company with an estimated 25 years of coal reserves at current production levels.

Forward-Looking Information

This release may contain forward-looking statements that may involve risks and uncertainties. Such statements relate to the Company's expectations, intentions, plans and beliefs. As a result, actual future events or results could differ materially from those suggested by the forward-looking statements. Readers are referred to the documents filed by the Company on SEDAR. Such risk factors include, but are not limited to changes in commodity prices; strengths of various economies; the effects of competition and pricing pressures; the oversupply of, or lack of demand for, the Company's products; currency and interest rate fluctuations; various events which could disrupt the Company's construction schedule or operations; the Company's ability to obtain additional funding on favourable terms, if at all; and the Company's ability to anticipate and manage the foregoing factors and risks. Additionally, statements related to the quantity or magnitude of coal deposits are deemed to be forward-looking statements. The reliability of such information is affected by, among other things, uncertainties involving geology of coal deposits; uncertainties of estimates of their size or composition; uncertainties of projections related to costs of production; the possibilities in delays in mining activities; changes in plans with respect to exploration, development projects or capital expenditures; and various other risks including those related to health, safety and environmental matters.

CONTACT: David Jan, Manager, Investor Relations & Corporate Development, Phone: (604) 608-2692, Email: djan@westerncoal.com

Source: Western Canadian Coal Corp.

CONTACT: David Jan, Manager, Investor Relations & Corporate Development,
Phone: (604) 608-2692, Email: djan@westerncoal.com

2008-02-28 19:47:40 0301365 PRNEWSWIRE