 Wedged into the heart of the Canadian Rockies, the Elk Valley is approximately 60 kilometres from the Alberta and Montana borders.The valley played an important part in the coal mining history of British Columbia for over 100 years, and was a hotbed of labour activism, regularly returning socialist independents to the legislature.The Elk Valley is the largest producing coal field in the province, producing millions of tons of coal that is shipped to steel mills around the world.