Dec 18 Donkin News ArticleDonkin project on hold until buyer can be found
DONKIN — A company seeking to reopen the Donkin mine still hasn’t found abuyer for the raw coal that would be extracted during an evaluation phase of theproject.
During a presentation at the Donkin fire hall Thursday evening, an officialwith Xstrata Coal Donkin Management said project partners won’t begin thethree-year, $110-million test phase unless they can sell the coal.
Project manager Val Istomin said several million tonnes of unwashed coalwould be a byproduct of an ongoing pre-feasibility study to determine if themine is economically viable.
If the mine proceeds, a wash plant would be set up to remove sulphur andother materials from the coal.
“We have everything in place other than approval from our company,” he said.“Our company’s position is that until such time as we can move the coal thatcomes out as a result of this exploration work, we really shouldn’t startit.”
Istomin believes a buyer will come forward due to the need for coal, but hesaid it’s not likely the company will have a contract agreement within the nextthree months. He added that the project has all of its regulatory approvals inplace.
Donkin partners had hoped to sell their coal to Nova Scotia Power but newemissions regulations coming into to effect Jan. 1, 2010 have stifled thesale.
NSP spokesperson Jennifer Parker told the Cape Breton Post the company has noplans for the coal.
“We have been approached by the companies representing Donkin but we’ve madeno commitments at this time,” she said.
Cape Breton West MLA Alfie MacLeod and District 2 Coun. Kevin Saccary saidthe province should lift their emission regulations on this particular coal fora four-year maximum test period.
MacLeod put forward a bill during the last sitting of the Nova Scotialegislature that would allow NSP to burn Donkin’s raw coal. He said thegovernment must address the bill in the next session.
MacLeod said coal-burning companies such as NSP regularly burn a mixture ofcoal.
The project’s community liaison committee chair Hugh Kennedy said his groupis concerned how NSP could burn the coal without producing harmful emissions atits generating stations, including the Lingan plant.
“One of the things we would be concerned about is, ‘OK, how do you burn thisraw coal and (have) the least amount of impact on the environment?’” saidKennedy.
The Donkin mine project, which began in 2006, currently costs $350,000 amonth in operating costs. The project is a partnership of Xstrata, which isheadquartered in Sydney, Australia, and Halifax’s Erdene Resource DevelopmentCorp., a Halifax company, which has a 25 per cent stake.