TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Global mining major BHP Billiton and Saskatchewan-based electricity provider, SaskPower, on Thursday announced a partnership to accelerate the global development of carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology by sharing access to the data, information and lessons learned from SaskPower’s Boundary Dam facility – the world’s first full-chain power sector CCS project.

Under the memorandum of understanding (MoU) the two companies had signed, BHP would establish a global knowledge centre to help promote research and reduce the cost and risk associated with new CCS projects.

“To respond effectively to climate change, we must develop and deploy a range of low emissions technologies more quickly than the usual commercial timeframes. But progress remains too slow,” BHP Billiton chief commercial officer Dean Dalla Valle stated.

The individual components of CCS (capture, transport and storage) had been successfully demonstrated for many years, but Boundary Dam was the first power project to combine all three.  Much more investment and many more projects were needed to bring down the cost of technology and accelerate its deployment.

“By making relevant information from Boundary Dam more widely available, we hope our contribution has a multiplier effect and promotes CCS investment around the world. We continue to assess other investments to support the development of CCS and other low emissions technology as part of our commitment to take action on climate change,” Dalla Valle said.

Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall said that private enterprises such as BHP Billiton investing in low emissions technology, were “today turning the tide in Saskatchewan, and tomorrow around the world.”

“As the home of our Jansen Potash project, we have a strong connection with and commitment to Saskatchewan and it’s great to see some of the innovative work being done in the region recognised globally as part of such an important effort to reduce the world’s emissions.

“This partnership demonstrates the strength of the work being undertaken by SaskPower at the Boundary Dam facility, the support offered by the Saskatchewan government and BHP Billiton’s commitment to tackling climate change. We know there is still much more to be done in CCS, but we are encouraged by the results we are seeing today and the innovations we are working on for tomorrow. The Boundary Dam project offers lessons for all of us and we look forward to being part of it,” BHP Billiton Canada president Giles Hellyer commented.

Despite the uncertainty lingering in the potash industry, global mining giant BHP Billiton was taking a long-term view and had confirmed its gradual push into potash. In August 2013, the Anglo-Australian firm, which unsuccessfully sought to buy PotashCorp in 2010, approved $2.6-billion worth of spending on its Jansen potash project, in Saskatchewan, with yearly spend to average about $800-million.

The project was being designed to produce about eight-million tonnes a year of agricultural-grade potash and had an estimated 70-year mine life.

Electricity utility SaskPower in June launched its carbon capture test facility (CCTF) in Estevan, offering international clients a unique platform for the testing of new and emerging technologies to capture carbon-dioxide emissions from coal-fired thermal facilities.

Built in partnership with Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems, the CCTF was a high-tech laboratory that used a small amount of exhaust (flue) gas from the neighbouring Shand power station and allowed researchers to test equipment, chemical innovation or engineering designs in a precisely controlled environment.

The CCTF was a modular facility, where many individual parts could be isolated, modified and operated to test specific carbon capture technologies.

The sophisticated measurement tools and a data system would continually record operating conditions at 100 locations, allowing companies to track how their particular technology performed over time and in response to realistic commercial operating conditions.

Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems was the CCTF’s first client.