Artemis Gold’s Blackwater mine at final commissioning stage
Artemis now expects to feed first ore to the ball mill in the next few weeks and continues to target first gold pour before year end.
The BG Group has unveiled its plans for a liquefied natural gas plant in Prince Rupert that would bring between 200 and 300 LNG tankers into port each year, consume more than half of the electricity that would be produced by the Site C dam and take five years to build, with construction taking place around the clock, seven days a week.
BG Group has filed an application with the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency (CEAA) for a three-train LNG plant, called Prince Rupert LNG.
The three-train plant would be built in two phases at Ridley Terminal, with the first two trains built over five years, starting in 2016.
The construction of a third train would depend on market conditions, the company says in its submission to the CEAA.
At full capacity, it would produce 3,000 tonnes of LNG per day. The company also plans to build a work camp that would house up to 3,800 workers.
The project would create 3,500 jobs during construction, 250 permanent jobs and up to 250 more indirect jobs.
Production from the first phase of the project would bring 189 LNG tankers into Prince Rupert per year, with another 95 per year with the commissioning of the third train.
The first two trains would require a maximum generating capacity of 540 megawatts of electricity; a third would need an additional 260 MW. By comparison, the proposed Site C dam would have 1,100 MW total generating capacity.
The electricity would be generated through natural gas-fired generators, although the company says the plant would be tied into the BC Hydro grid, leaving open the possibility that some of the power could come from other sources, such as hydro, wind or run-of-river.
“If reliable and sufficient, grid electrical power will be used in preference to site-generated electrical power,” the company’s submission states.
Renewable energy proponents in B.C. have been lobbying to have at least some of the power for LNG provided through wind, run-of-river and biomass.
BG Group is not revealing the project’s capital costs.
“We haven’t made a final investment decision on this,” BG spokesman David Byford told Business in Vancouver. “We’re not expected to until mid-decade. And assuming we clear that hurdle, construction would follow that. We have a lot of work to do right now.”
By Nelson Bennett
