New technology headed to Springhill mine
By JUDY MYRDEN Business Reporter
Thu. Dec 24 - 4:46 AM
[Workers hook up heavy duty pumps that were used to fracture a coal seam outside Springhill in late 2007. (Archive)</p>]
Workers hook up heavy duty pumps that were used to fracture a coal seam outside Springhill in late 2007. (Archive)
Stealth Ventures Ltd. of Calgary is teaming up with Clean Coal Ltd. of Britain to try a new technology to get energy from an old mine outside of Springhill.
Stealth and Clean Coal will try using underground coal gasification technology to get coal bed methane from the mine, the companies announced Wednesday.
"We are really excited and this is leading edge technology," said Stealths CEO Derek Krivak, in a telephone interview Wednesday.
This agreement marks the first time Clean Coal will use the technology in Canada.
Underground coal gasification is a method of converting deep-seam coal into a synthetic gas. It is a proven method of converting the coal into a combustible fuel used for power generation or as a feedstock for the manufacture of hydrogen, chemicals or transportation fuels, the company said in a news release.
Before using the technology, the company is working with the provincial government to receive regulatory approval for its use, Mr. Krivak said.
"Were still working with the Nova Scotia government looking at the environmental impacts and other issue. Were hoping to use it by next spring or summer," he said.
The company is bullish on using the technology on the 71,600-hectare Cumberland Basin, which could contain 1.2 trillion cubic feet of coal bed methane gas.
Last year Stealth had a setback at the provinces first onshore gas project. The company spent $10-million on drilling three onshore wells but damaged the rock trying to tap into the coal bed methane.
"This technology will address all of the concerns we had in the previous wells," said Mr. Krivak.
"There is no question that we feel there is tremendous potential for the Cumberland Basin and that it was a matter of applying the right technology to harness the resource. We believe that (underground coal gasification) technology has not only great applications for Nova Scotia but can play a bigger picture in Canadas energy supply strategy."
He said Nova Scotia is examining the viability of such an industry for the province from economic and environmental standpoints.
"We believe this is an exciting and commercially viable development which can bring significant long-term benefit to Nova Scotia," Graham Chapman, Clean Coal chief operating officer, said in a release.
Clean Coal specializes in underground coal gasification and is developing projects in global markets including North America and Europe.
The United Kingdom Coal Authority has recently awarded five licences to Clean Coal to develop offshore sites for underground coal gasification.
( jmyrden@herald.ca)
