• Exclusive Content
  • Events
  • Endeavor Business Media Energy
    1. Microgrids

    Argonaut's Magino Gold Mine to be powered by Wärtsilä Gas-fired Engines at Ontario site

    March 21, 2022
    The engines can combust 100 percent synthetic carbon-neutral methane and methnol and can be adapted on blends with hydrogen, which does not burn a carbon emission
    Image credit Wartsila
    Wartsila Engines 6238b79f8e504

    A gold mining operation in Ontario will be powered by a natural gas-fired 22 MW on-site power plant in the near future.

    Finnish technology group Wärtsilä announced this month it received an order from Argonaut Gold Inc. The gas-fired engines will support Argonaut’s Magino project currently under construction.

    The order includes four Wärtsilä 34SG gas engines, electrical equipment, auxiliaries and plant commissioning duties. The Magino power plant is expected to enter operations in 2023.

    Caterpillar deploying Battery-Electric Haulage Vehicles to Newmont Gold Mines by 2026

    Subscribe to EnergyTech's free Newsletter for regular Insights into the C&I Energy Transition

    Power reliability and heat rate efficiency are “important factors for mining operations where power availability is absolutely essential and fuel costs are very significant,” Jon Rodriquez, director of engine power plants, North America, for Wärtsilä Energy.

    Natural gas-powered power plants emit less than half of the carbon emissions of coal. So far, Wärtsilä has supplied about 620 Mw of power capacity to mining operations in North America, the company.

    The engines can combust 100 percent synthetic carbon-neutral methane and methnol and can be adapted on blends with hydrogen, which does not burn a carbon emission, according to reports.

    In 2021, Argonaut Gold generated its record annual production of 244,156 gold equivalent ounces and revenue of more than $436 million, according to its annual earnings report. Its construction capital projection on the Magino mine is about $250 million.

    -- -- -- 

    (Rod Walton, senior editor for EnergyTech, is a 14-year veteran of covering the energy industry both as a newspaper and trade journalist. He can reached at [email protected]).

    About the Author

    Rod Walton, EnergyTech Managing Editor | Senior Editor

    For EnergyTech editorial inquiries, please contact Managing Editor Rod Walton at [email protected].

    Rod Walton has spent 15 years covering the energy industry as a newspaper and trade journalist. He formerly was energy writer and business editor at the Tulsa World. Later, he spent six years covering the electricity power sector for Pennwell and Clarion Events. He joined Endeavor and EnergyTech in November 2021.

    Walton earned his Bachelors degree in journalism from the University of Oklahoma. His career stops include the Moore American, Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise, Wagoner Tribune and Tulsa World. 

    EnergyTech is focused on the mission critical and large-scale energy users and their sustainability and resiliency goals. These include the commercial and industrial sectors, as well as the military, universities, data centers and microgrids. The C&I sectors together account for close to 30 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S.

    He was named Managing Editor for Microgrid Knowledge and EnergyTech starting July 1, 2023

    Many large-scale energy users such as Fortune 500 companies, and mission-critical users such as military bases, universities, healthcare facilities, public safety and data centers, shifting their energy priorities to reach net-zero carbon goals within the coming decades. These include plans for renewable energy power purchase agreements, but also on-site resiliency projects such as microgrids, combined heat and power, rooftop solar, energy storage, digitalization and building efficiency upgrades.

    Email