About 700 m below the Trans Canada Highway, just west of the sleepy little town of Stellarton, N.S., four continuous mining mach ines will be cutting away at a 6.5-m-thick coal seam some time in the year 1992. That’s the year the Nova Scotia Power Corp. (NSCP) plans to have its second 150-mw coal-fired electric-generating station in nearby Trenton, operating at full capacity. Construction of the new unit and a loan guarantee from the federal government helped Clifford Frame, chairman of Westray Coal, decide this fall to build a $120-million mine at Stellarton. Westray is a private company, 50%-held by Giant Yellowknife Mines of Toronto. It will be financing the mine through conventional debt financing, according to President Kurt Forgaard.
The last time Frame was involved in a new coal mining project was in 1986, which, as it turns out, was also the last time there was a new coal mine built in this country. There were two mines built in that year, both in northwestern British Columbia: Bullmoose and Quintette. Frame was president of Quintette Coal. Forgaard, too, has extensive experience in the coal industry.
The Westray mine is a lot smaller than Quintette and should be a lot less controversial. The upper part of the seam to be mined has been mined in the past and the financial risks are much lower. About 700,000 of the one million tonnes of clean coal which are expected to come from the planned coal washing plant at Stellarton will go directly to the Trenton power plant. Westray has signed a 15- year contract to supply the coal at an undisclosed price.
The low-sulphur content of the coal (ranging from 0.5% to 1%) was the key to winning the contract. It is ideal for NSCP, which is trying to meet province-wide sulphur dioxide emission targets of 160,000 tonnes. That target was set by the Nova Scotia government in 1985 when it signed an accord with the federal government to reduce emissions.
NSCP gets some 400,000 tonnes of coal each year for the existing 150-MW unit at Trenton from the Cape Breton Development Corp. (Devco) and Nova Construction, which runs a dragline operation near Westville. Both of these companies supply coal which has a sulphur content of 2%-3%, according to Jerry Lethbridge, vice-president of engineering and production for NSCP. The power corporation has three coal-fired plants in Cape Breton and one other coal-fired plant on the mainland, reflecting its strong commitment to coal as a long-term energy source in the province. The corporation has projected a load growth factor of 3.8% per year over the next 10 years. But actual growth has been greater, Lethbridge says. As a result, approval for another 150-MW unit, to come on-stream in 1993 in Cape Breton, is being sought by NSCP. That unit would be a circulating fluidized bed boiler.
Mineable coal reserves on the Westray property total 54 million tonnes of highly volatile Class a bituminous coal. The coal occurs in a gently-dipping seam, called the Foord Seam. The roof and floor strata of the seam are moderately strong, according to a detailed study by Golder Associates, and seam thickness is variable, ranging from 2.5 m to 8.5 m. The seam will be developed over the next two years by two ramps, each 1,687.5 m long, driven at an angle of about 14 . Dimensions of these openings will be 3.5 m high by 6 m wide. The contract for this work has not been let yet.
Room-and-pillar mining has been selected as the method to mine the deposit. This means continuous mining machines, shuttle cars, conveyors and rock-bolting machines will be required. Extraction ratios are expected to be about 45%.
Ventilation will be provided by a single-stage, forced axial flow fan capable of producing air quantities of 1,800 cu m per second at 2,100 Pa. In addition, primary production equipment will generate 20 cu m of air per sec for methane dilution. The coal will be treated in a coal- washing plant to be built at the site. It will consist of heavy medium and cyclone circuits for producing two coal products — a premium product with a heat content of 12,000 BTUs per lb and a regular product with a heat content of 10,900 BTUs per lb. Combined plant yield is expected to be 88.2%.
Be the first to comment on "EAST MEETS WESTRAY"