Power of the Ring of Fire

Moe Lavigne was a speaker today on the "Panel Discussion: Will renewables play a role in powering new mines in the ring of fire?" at the RENEWABLES & MINING SUMMIT AND EXHIBITION.

Natural gas is not a renewable but the cost benefit analysis between 'electrical' versus 'natural gas' power generation for the Ring of Fire mines, surrounding communities and the Nakina Natural Gas Super Reducer Complex (GSR) is tantalizing.

I put some pages from Ontario Power Authority's "2012 technical report for the connection of remote First Nation communities in Northwest Ontario for the transmission planning committee" in the next post for our own debate. The OPA created the report back when Cliff's thought they were in a position to invest $3.3B in the Ring of Fire chromite project.

Under the 'Pickle Lake to the Ring of Fire via Webequie Junction - Scenario A', the electrical transmission line to the Ring of Fire would cost about $195M. The four remote community connections portion was estimated to be $105M for at total of $300M.

KWG Resources scoped a "chromite slurry pipeline south and a gas pipeline north to generate electricity at the site and for the nearby remote communities" and it would be interesting to guesstimate the capex cost of the gas line compared to the $195M if community extensions were included.

The Oraclepoll Research Northern Ontario First Nation from community residents, "the 200 respondents, only 8% lived in communities not connected to the Ontario electricity grid and rely on diesel generation for electricity."

I wonder how natural gas as a power source for northern Ontario would be received if it was better understood?