Western Canadian Coal Announces 86 Million Tonnes of Coal Reserves for the Belcourt Property

    VANCOUVER, Jan. 28 /CNW/ -  Western Canadian Coal Corp (TSX: WTN, WTN.WT
and WTN.DB and AIM: WTN) ("Company" or "Western") announces today that the
Belcourt-Saxon Coal Limited Partnership ("BSCLP"), which Western has a 50%
economic interest, has completed a National Instrument 43-101 compliant
technical report ("Technical Report") regarding the Belcourt coal property. 
The report entitled "Technical Report Belcourt Project" and dated January 23,
2009 can be found in the Company's filings on SEDAR (www.sedar.com).
Highlights of the report include:

    
    -   86 million tonnes of Proven Reserves of metallurgical coal in
        two deposits, Belcourt North and Belcourt South.
    -   167 million tonnes of Measured (including 2 million tonnes thermal)
        and 4 million tonnes of Indicated Resources among the two deposits
    -   Potential production of 4 million tonnes per year of saleable clean
        coal
    -   15 years of production from defined reserves on the property

    Sandwell Engineering Inc. prepared a feasibility study that is the basis
of the Technical Report. Numerous consultant specialists as outlined in the
Technical Report contributed to the study. Qualified Persons who are authors
of the Technical Report include:

    -   Geology & Resources - John H. Perry, P. Geo (internal), and
        Robert J. Morris, P. Geo, Principal of Moose Mountain Member Corp.,
        (independent);
    -   Reserves - Jay Q.L. Horton, P. Eng., Senior Mining Engineer with
        Norwest Corporation (independent).
    

    BSCLP has the Belcourt, Belcourt West, Omega and Saxon coal properties
located approximately 65 to 125 kilometres south of Tumbler Ridge, BC, where
Western's Wolverine operations are located. The Belcourt property includes two
deposits, Belcourt North and Belcourt South. The Saxon property consists of
two deposits, Saxon East and Saxon South.
    John Hogg, President and CEO of Western Canadian Coal Corp. comments,
"The filing of the NI 43-101 technical report on Belcourt is a significant
next step towards the development of the property and the continued growth
prospects for Western. It confirms our views that Belcourt is a valuable asset
in our portfolio. Western's reserve base now increases by 50% when we include
our share of Belcourt's reserves. However, given the uncertain economic times
we are currently encountering, we will carefully consider the timing of
developing Belcourt-Saxon."

    About Western Canadian Coal

    Western Canadian Coal Corp. produces high quality metallurgical coal from
mines located in the northeast of British Columbia. The coal is sold to many
of the top steelmakers in the world. The Company also has interests in various
coal properties in northern and southern British Columbia and a 50% interest
to explore and develop the Belcourt and Saxon group of properties in northern
BC. Currently, these properties provide the company with an estimated 15 years
of coal reserves at current production levels. For more information, please
visit www.westerncanadiancoal.com.

    Forward-Looking Information

    This news release contains "forward-looking information" within the
meaning of applicable securities laws. Generally, forward-looking information
can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans",
"expects", or "does not expect", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled",
"estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates", or "does not anticipate",
or "believes" or variations of such words and phrases or statements that
certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might", or "will
be taken", "occur", or "be achieved". Forward-looking information is based on
the opinions and estimates of management at the date the information is made,
and is based on a number of assumptions and subject to a variety of risks and
uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to
differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking information.
Many of these assumptions are based on factors and events that are not within
the control of Western and there is no assurance they will prove to be
correct. Factors that could cause actual results to vary materially from
results anticipated by such forward-looking information include changes in
market conditions, variations in coal recovery rates, risks relating to
operations, fluctuating coal prices and currency exchange rates, changes in
project parameters, the possibility of unanticipated costs and expenses,
labour disputes and other risks of the mining industry, failure of plant,
equipment or processes to operate as anticipated, the business of the
companies not being integrated successfully or such integration proving more
difficult, time consuming or costly than expected as well as those risk
factors discussed in the Annual Information Form for the year ended March 31,
2008 for Western available on www.sedar.com. Although Western has attempted to
identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results
to differ materially from those described in forward-looking information,
there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results not to be
anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that
forward-looking information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and
future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such
information. Western undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking
information if circumstances or management's estimates or opinions should
change except as required by applicable securities laws. The reader is
cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information.

For further information:

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