Mining’s old guard needs strong medicine
A new report details subpar investor returns in the mining industry over the last decade, particularly big cap diversified companies which have not adapted to new realities.
(News Release from Swan Hills Synfuels) – The Province of Alberta and Swan Hills Synfuels are advancing a clean gas for clean power project that will dramatically reduce emissions by capturing and sequestering over 1.3 million tonnes per year of CO2. The province has executed a letter of intent with Swan Hills Synfuels to provide a $285 million grant in support of this carbon capture and storage project.
The Swan Hills Synfuels project will manufacture clean synthetic gas from deep, unmineable coal seams near Swan Hills, Alberta. This low-carbon gas will be used to fuel a new 300 MW power plant to be developed near Whitecourt, Alberta. The overall cost of the project is approximately $1.5 billion, with a planned in-service date in 2015.
“This transformative project is a whole new way to generate clean electricity, using Alberta’s vast, deep stranded coal resources,” said Swan Hills Synfuels President Douglas Shaigec. “We are using an innovative approach with proven technologies to deliver secure electricity, with a quarter of the emissions produced by coal-fired power generation today, and just over half those of natural gas-fired generation.”
Swan Hills Synfuels has entered into an agreement with PCL Industrial Management Inc. to construct the clean synthetic gas processing facility on a fixed price, schedule certain basis. “We are excited to be involved in this environmentally superior project, one that has significant replication potential in Alberta and elsewhere,” said PCL CEO Paul Douglas. “This project will be a leader among the next generation of coal-based clean energy production with carbon capture and storage.”
The power plant component of the project will be built, owned and operated by an experienced, major power generator partner, to be selected by Swan Hills Synfuels from a small number of parties who have been engaged in a competitive selection process for the last year.
The CO2 captured by the project will be used in the Swan Hills area for enhanced oil recovery, increasing conventional oil production in Alberta while permanently sequestering the CO2.
Swan Hills Synfuels is a Calgary-based clean energy project development company, focused on using deep in-situ coal gasification together with carbon capture and storage to result in advanced clean energy developments.
