Esso Resources Canada, a wholly- owned subsidiary of Imperial Oil, is planning to spend $1 million on exploration to assess some coal deposits near Springhill, N.S. The program will include field mapping, extensive seismic work, and the drilling of a number of exploration holes during the first year, the company said.
Esso is following-up on a promising low-sulphur coal showing encountered near Springhill by government exploration drilling in 1980.
“We are hopeful that economic reserves of coal will be identified in the Springhill area to help meet the future demand for coal-fired power generation in Nova Scotia,” said Giacomo Capobianco, vice president of coal for Esso.
Underground coal mining at Springhill has not been conducted since 1958 when a shift in the rock formations trapped more than 100 miners underground and left 75 of them dead.
“We’re only in the early exploration phase at Springhill,” a spokesman for Esso said. “It’s too early to say if there will be enough coal there to make an economically viable operation.”
The company will spend $250,000 on the first phase of exploration, which is scheduled to begin in April. Expenditures of a further $350,000 and $450,000 will follow in the second and third years if results are encouraging.
The assets of Esso Minerals, put up for sale earlier this year, do not include Imperial’s coal assets which are part of Esso Resources Canada and are managed out of Calgary.
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