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Robertson Headframe remains in limbo
Preserving landmark slips from city agenda despite potential Con energy partnership

Jack Danylchuk
Northern News Services
Published Tuesday, June 28, 2011

SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Saving the Robertson Headframe is no longer part of the plan to develop a district energy system for downtown Yellowknife, but the $60-million project may be the last, best hope for saving the landmark from the wrecking ball.

NNSL photo/graphic

The fate of Yellowknife's iconic Robertson Headframe is in the air as it's no longer part of the city's proposed district energy system, and no other ideas for it, so far, have proved feasible. - Ian Vaydik/NNSL photo

Mayor Gord Van Tighem expects an answer in November from Corix Utilities, a potential private partner, on the proposed Con Mine district energy project, just as the latest deadline extension for a decision on the future of the headframe expires.

Once seemingly joined at the hip, the heating project and the headframe are now "separate issues," Van Tighem said on June 22.

Drawing heat from the mine shaft, that reaches more than a mile into the rock beneath the headframe, was the centerpiece of a banquet of choices that consultants laid out in a report to the city's heritage committee three years ago.

Based on successful conversions of other industrial buildings, the options were daunting: $20 million for a geothermal plant and indoor gardens, $20 million for a glassed-in lookout on the rooftop, $40 million for a science and technology park, $50 million to build condos in the tower, $100 million to convert it into a luxury hotel.

Even the bargain basement proposals were beyond the means of groups that pressed the city to preserve the Robertson Headframe: $1 million to cover the south wall with solar energy panels, $3 million to install a climbing wall, $5 million for a restaurant with stunning view of Yellowknife.

The fate of the tallest structure in the North has been in limbo since January 2009, the deadline Miramar Con Mine gave the city to come up with at least $250,000 to mothball the building that may cost twice that amount to knock down.

Other deadlines have since come and gone and there is no longer any sense of urgency about demolishing the headframe, Ron Connell, environmental officer for Miramar Con Mine, said Thursday.

"We're not being pressured to take it down," Connell said. "It's in the city's ball park. They are proceeding with the heating project. When they have an answer, we'll take it from there."

Corix, the Vancouver-headquartered utilities company that may take on the heating project, could be a candidate to re-purpose and preserve the landmark structure. It has broad experience and the backing of a $2-billion investment company and almost $80 billion in pension funds.

City manager Bob Long previously told media the company was selected because "they were the most flexible in terms of what the community benefits and community objectives would be in this project. They see that coming into a community is a long-term commitment."

But, modest or grand, proposals for the Robertson Headframe are not on the agenda, said spokesman Jack Touhey.

"I don't have an answer for the future of the Robertson Shaft; I'm not familiar with the specifics," Touhey said. "Our focus is on water, waste water, energy and district energy systems. We're in the business of moving stuff through pipes."

Touhey also said Corix would still be interested in the project whether geothermal heat from below the now-defunct Con Mine proves viable or not.

"We will look at it without that component," he said. "I think that that's a really interesting aspect of the project and potential cost savings, in terms of long-term operating costs, but clearly one would have to evaluate a capital cost to use that system, it's efficiency and so on and so forth."

-- with files from Nicole Veerman

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