They Seam 2 Have Found a Solution

From the surface, the Springhill No. 2 Mine where “The Bump” killed 79 miners almost 55 years ago, is little more than a vacant lot with a few boarded and decaying buildings on it.

Sadly, the once-vibrant site where more than 4000 miners toiled in the coal mining heydays between 1873 and 1958, the mines in Springhill, Nova Scotia, are now only a memory; a memory marked by a modest memorial honouring those 79 men who died in the 1958 rockburst.

Today, surrounded by the town’s small industrial park, the old mine site shows few signs of what was once a world-class, multi-seam coal operation that produced thousands of tonnes of coal a year.

It was a prestigious mine area that many believe would still be operating today had it not been for the disaster of 1958 that led to the end of coal mining in Springhill and the exodus of both the miners and the owners and investors alike.

In fact, studies since the mine’s close indicate extensive crown pillar and underground reserves remain in the Springhill area and associated with the formerly mined seams. Like most abandoned mines, water eventually filled the mine workings, and the Springhill mines were no exception. In fact, the No. 2 mine alone, where the accident happened in 1958, is estimated to contain 5,580,000 m³ of water.This volume can be multiplied many times over if all the flooded abandoned workings are included.

Normally that amount of water would sit unnoticed but with the advent of modern science and the emerging interest in geothermal technology, it was determined that the abandoned mine workings, underlying and around the Town of Springhill, offered enormous geothermal possibilities, and the water was an ideal target for a geothermal mine-water system.

Knowing the potential to recover energy from the workings was the start, but converting that information into a working geothermal power system was quite a different story.

First, and most inviting about the area, is that the subsurface geology of the abandoned mine workings that have subsequently flooded, provide excellent interconnections between the various levels that provide “pathways” to create geothermal activity.

Because of these “pathways,” deeper geothermally heated waters mitigate upward due to their lower density, and cooler near-surface waters sink due to their higher density. This freedom to move around underground results in the formation of a slowly circulating convection system similar to water in a pot being heated on a stove.

Technically, the deeper and more extensive the network of “pathways,” the better, and thanks to the extensive production of coal at Springhill since 1873 from several seam depths approaching 1200 metres, the site is ideal for geothermal heat recovery.

In fact, the mine workings in the Springhill area are the deepest coal mine workings in Canada and, therefore, provide opportunities for extensive geothermal energy developments in and beyond the Town.

With extensive data in hand, the subject of producing geothermal energy from the depths of the abandoned Springhill coal mines became a reality and a topic of national interest as warm water from the various coal seams was put to work heating and cooling businesses and Town facilities.

Currently, only a handful of companies supplement their thermal energy requirements with geothermal energy, and as Town Engineer Brian Herteis explains: “Initially, it was a tough sell to many of the town’s 4100 residents. It was a new, unproven technology and many residents still had bad memories associated with the numerous mine disasters and the resulting loss of life and they were reluctant to do anything that may impact or disturb the working.”

As time went on and harnessing energy from the mine was accepted, the Town continued to look for more customers, and to expanding its system. It’s not a major, widespread system yet, but Herteis says the warm geothermal water from the abandoned mines is providing “green,” sustainable mine water geothermal energy to a number of businesses and facilities in Springhill, and the Town is always looking to add additional mine water geothermal users and expand its use.

“One of those facilities is the new Springhill Community Centre that relies entirely on mine water geothermal energy for all of its ice making and facility heating and cooling at a substantial cost saving to conventional energy sources,” says Herteis.

The Nova Scotia Community College (Springhill Campus) has also recently accessed the mine water and is using it as an energy source for a refrigeration and geothermal course, but it’s the “hockey rink” that’s the talk of the town.

Typical of many small Canadian towns, the “hockey rink” and “community centre” is the hub of activity and The Dr. Carson & Marion Murray Community Centre in Springhill is no exception.

Named after the parents of world-renown singer Anne Murray, long-time residents of the town, the 3600 m² structure is located within walking distance of the abandoned mines.

It’s a modern building in an old part of town but its heating and cooling system serves as an invisible reminder that something good still comes from the coal mine where those 79 miners died decades ago.

As mentioned in the headline, the troubled coal mine is giving back to the Town of Springhill