Timmins geothermal project lands city in hot water: use of abandoned mines examined for potential energy project.

• Author: Ross, Ian
• Position: Timmins: Special Report - Brief Article

Potential energy savings of half-a-million dollars annually was enough to convince the City of Timmins to forge ahead with investigating the possibility of using naturally heated water from two abandoned gold mines, near the city's downtown to heat and cool public buildings.

In striking a three-way partnership with Kinross Gold Corp. and the Timmins and District Hospital, project leaders behind Timmins' geothermal project were sifting through, and shortlisting, proposals received from a number of engineering firms to explore and evaluate the potential behind what is being called cavern thermal energy storage at the decommissioned McIntyre and Hollinger mines.

The city released a request for proposals (RFP) in March to secure an engineering team for a feasibility study. The study will provide the technical and economic details of piping heat around the city as part of a huge heating convection system to offset energy costs in two public properties, namely the hospital and the McIntyre Arena.

Though declining to disclose the number of submissions received, Mark Jensen, the city's director of planning, building and economic development, expresses amazement at the level of interest shown from outside Northern Ontario, considering their RFP was only posted in local papers and on the city's Web site.

"At this point we won't get into the numbers because we're not finished negotiating," he says, adding there were still some details to discuss with some of the submissions.

"I can say we've had a lot of interest. Obviously local firms showed interest, and we had firms from the U.S...from Utah and Colorado.

"It's so very hard to find (expertise) with one firm, so you have strategic partnerships to try and cover all the expertise that's required."

For Jensen, the geothermal project is definitely not some pipe dream, but has the potential to turn a liability for Kinross into some significant cost savings for the city.

"The world leaders in this technology say this is worth looking at, so if they're telling us that, I think we would be negligent not to go ahead and take a look at it."

A similar proposal is in use in Springhill, N.S. where warm water from an abandoned coal mine is being extracted for use in a business development park.

"I think they realized about a 40 to 60 per cent savings in energy costs in using it as an economic development tool," says Jensen.

"Ultimately if this technology proves beneficial, what a way to promote a city."

The...