Fording Announces Closing of $105 Million Offering of Trust Units CALGARY, April 16 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Fording Canadian Coal Trust (TSX: FDG.UN, NYSE: FDG) today announced that it has closed the public offering announced on March 29, 2004. In connection with the offering, a total of 2,000,000 previously unissued trust units were sold to a syndicate of underwriters on a bought deal basis, at a price of $52.50 per trust unit for gross proceeds of CDN$105,000,000. The underwriting syndicate was led by RBC Capital Markets. The other members of the underwriting syndicate were CIBC World Markets Inc., Scotia Capital Inc., BMO Nesbitt Burns Inc., HSBC Securities (Canada) Inc., National Bank Financial Inc., TD Securities Inc. and Salman Partners Inc. Fording Canadian Coal Trust intends to use the net proceeds of the offering to make a further investment in Fording Inc., its wholly-owned subsidiary. Fording Inc. will use such further investment to pay down indebtedness. This reduced level of indebtedness is expected to provide Fording Inc. with a greater range of financing alternatives with respect to funding its portion of the recently announced development of the Cheviot Creek pit that forms part of the Cardinal River operations owned by Elk Valley Coal Partnership. The trust units have not been, and will not be, registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933 and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from the registration requirements of such Act. The trust units are being offered only by means of a prospectus. Accordingly, this press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to qualification under the securities laws of any such jurisdiction. Fording Canadian Coal Trust is an open-ended mutual fund trust. Through investments in metallurgical coal and industrial minerals mining and processing operations, the Trust makes quarterly cash distributions to unitholders. The Trust, through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Fording Inc., holds a 65% ownership interest in the Elk Valley Coal Partnership and is the world's largest producer of the industrial mineral wollastonite. Elk Valley Coal Partnership, comprised of Canada's senior metallurgical coal mining properties, is the world's second largest exporter of metallurgical coal, capable of supplying approximately 25 million tonnes of high-quality coal products annually to the international steel industry. DATASOURCE: Fording Canadian Coal Trust CONTACT: Mark Gow, CA, Controller, Fording Canadian Coal Trust, (403) 260-9834,

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