The Northwest Territories
Power Corporation now owns the Bluefish hydroelectric power plant. The
Corporation announced today that the acquisition of Bluefish from Miramar
Mining Corporation is complete.
The transaction
includes a cash amount of $10 million payable on December 31, 2004.
The generating capacity
of Bluefish is 7 MW and for the next two years the electricity generated
by the facility will be supplied back to Miramar Con Mine Ltd.
Beginning in 2005
the bulk of the electricity generated at Bluefish will be supplied to
the Yellowknife market.
Leon Courneya, President
and CEO of the Corporation, said that this acquisition will enable the
Corporation to again reduce the amount of diesel fuel currently used
by the Jackfish plant.
“In an average
year Jackfish uses 9 million litres of diesel which represents more
than 42% of the Corporation’s total annual diesel consumption”
he said. “This compares with Fort Simpson that is the next biggest
user of diesel using 2 million litres annually”.
The purchase is
not expected to have any negative impact on rates in the short term
and will substantially lower operating costs in the future.
For further information
contact:
Peter
Watt
Marketing & Communicaitons Officer
(867) 874-5215
