Slurry in a hurry on the way to Rupert?

An increase in mining activity in the Stewart area may be of benefit to the Port of Prince Rupert and spread benefits around the Northwest.

Fortune Minerals which is developing the reserves in the Mount Klappan area, has set about on an economic assessment on the cost of transporting their coal products to Prince Rupert via a pipeline system leading to the CN main line.

It’s a project that could create jobs for the Northwest, if it were chosen as the transportation shipment point for Fortunes finished project.

The Daily news featured the story in the Thursday edition.

Pipe could siphon coal to Rupert
By Leanne Ritchie
The Daily News
Thursday, November 22, 2007
Pages one and three

A mining company in the process of developing a new coal mine Northeast of Stewart is looking at the cost of building a pipeline to get its coal to the nearest port.

Fortune Minerals announced in late October that it has hired an engineering firm to conduct an economic assessment of the cost of transporting coal products from its Mount Klappan site by pipeline in the form of slurry - a water mixture.

The idea, according to Robin Goad, Fortune Minerals president, is to assess whether alternative methods of conveying coal to the port of Stewart and Prince Rupert would mitigate the impacts of a stronger Canadian dollar and increasing fuel costs, and reduce the environmental impacts with the use of existing transportation corridors.

"Fortune has commissioned this study in support of our commitment to aggressively manage the costs and profitability of developing our huge Mount Klappan asset, at the same time we are determined to minimize the impact it has on our environment," said Goad.

“We are confident that this independent engineering review will show us an option that will meet all of these objectives so we are very much looking forward to seeing (the) report.”

Once the coal arrives at its destination in slurry form, Fortune Minerals would then have to press the coal into briquette form for transport.

According to Goad, the anthracite pellets would then be sold for use by the global steel manufacturing industry. Notably, low ash content briquettes of suitable size, strength and quality are likely to command premium prices on the international market and would also facilitate loading and handling at the railway, port and receiving steel plant.

The capital costs, which would run into “the hundreds of millions” – Goad couldn’t be specific because shareholders have yet to be informed of the final figure - were comparable to the capital cost of linking up to the railroad,” he said.

Slurry pipelines from mines have been used before but mainly in terrain that’s inaccessible to motorized transport. The pipeline assessment asses production rates of 1.5 and three million tonnes of clean coal per year along three different route options from the mine site located 150 km northeast of the port of Stewart and 330 km northeast of the port of Prince Rupert.

The first route is west from the mine along the currently proposed truck haulage route to a load-out and dewatering facility to be built at the port of Stewart (about 250 km), the second route is south from the mine along the existing B. C. Rail right-of-way.

The pipe would end in a facility to be built at the current terminus of track at Minaret which is about 150 km from the mine) for rail haulage of product through Prince George to Prince Rupert.

The third route is south from the mine along the railway right-of-way to Minaret, and then southwest to New Hazelton (about 350 km) to a facility to be built on the CN main rail line to Prince Rupert from where it would be loaded onto vessels for delivery to international customers.

Back in 2005, the company assessed the cost of transporting coal by both truck and rail to the ports of Stewart and Prince Rupert.

However, those costs have likely increased since then, due to the increase in fuel costs and the rising Canadian dollar.

With files from the Prince George Citizen.