Wintering Hills – Our first investment in wind energy

Mining is energy intensive simply because we have to break and move incredible amounts of rock, which is ground to recover the important economic minerals then turned into products, concentrates, metals and coal.

Throughout the past decade, we have looked at the potential for generating power from wind around several of our operations. As a result, we have developed some understanding of wind power and the challenges relate to wind farms, and in September 2010, we announced a joint venture agreement with Suncor Energy to develop the Wintering Hills wind power project, located near Drumheller, Alberta.

The 88 megawatt (MW) Wintering Hills wind power project will consist of 55 General Electric 1.6 MW turbines. Construction is underway, and power production is anticipated by the end of 2011. The project is expected to generate enough clean electricity to power approximately 35,000 Alberta homes, displacing the equivalent of approximately 200,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year.

Our share of the energy will be approximately 90,000 MW hours per year – more than 1.5 times the power consumption of Cardinal River Coal Operation. Wintering Hills will also get CO2 credits as a source of clean energy that will offset our emissions and CO2 payments from our operation in Cardinal River, and help achieve our goal of providing more clean energy.

Did you know?

• Wind energy is the fastest growing source of electricity generation in the world and is a clean, renewable source of energy which produces no greenhouse gas emissions or waste products
• Wind energy in Canada produces enough electricity to power more than 1,000,000 Canadian homes
• China has the fastest growing wind energy sector and in 2009 and was second only to the USA
• Assessment of wind resources, locating wind farms to minimize harm to birds and impact on local residents, and the efficiency of the turbines have all increased dramatically in the last 10 years

The investment in the Wintering Hills project supports our commitment to increasing the amount of renewable energy related to our operations and will provide an opportunity to learn more about renewable energy.