The province says it’s having discussions again on the potential for geothermal energy in the Sussex area after a local entrepreneur revived interest in the proposal.
Feb. 11, 2026 By Andrew Bates, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter Telegraph-Journal
The province says it’s having discussions again on the potential for geothermal energy in the Sussex area after a local entrepreneur revived interest in the proposal.
Opportunities NB spokesperson Jean Bertin said Monday that they are having discussions about geothermal “and its potential relevance in the Sussex area.”
One existing proposal involves using the flooded Penobsquis mine as a source of geothermal energy, and dates back as far as 2017, when the Town of Sussex commissioned a feasibility study, which in 2020 found that a project could be built for $14.4 million and generate $1.7 million in annual energy savings.
Blair Hyslop, co-owner of Mrs. Dunster’s bakery in Sussex, told Brunswick News that he was a part of the initial strategic plan for economic development, which included the proposal. He said he’s now in meetings with the New Brunswick Business Council hearing about the “serious challenges that we’re having with energy” in New Brunswick, including aging infrastructure, rising demand and a desire for clean energy.
“If you look at the millions of dollars that are going to be spent in the next decade ... it’s like, well jeez, nobody seems to remember that we’re sitting on this huge energy asset,” Hyslop said Thursday. “Whatever energy conversation you’re a part of, you can go, why aren’t they talking about Sussex?”
Nutrien’s Penobsquis mine ceased production in 2015 and was decommissioned, with plans to allow the shaft to flood naturally with salt brine. The company’s Picadilly potash mine, across the road, ceased production in 2016 but is in continued use as a salt mine.
The Town of Sussex, working with Nutrien, then known as PotashCorp, and Avon Valley Floral, a local business, commissioned a study by Amec Foster Wheeler Construction and Infrastructure to determine whether the flooded mine could be used for geothermal energy, with a first-phase report in 2018 and a second-phase report in 2020.
The 2020 report suggested an “open loop” geothermal system for a greenhouse and refrigeration facility that would see water pumped to the surface, run through heat pumps to generate heating and cooling power, then returned to the mine. Capital costs were estimated at $14.4 million with a discounted payback period of 9.8 years, with a utility paying in $6.8 million and the proponent paying $5.65 million, excluding fees.
The mine is within “an hour of half a million people, so it’s a perfect place for an industrial park setup,” Hyslop said, comparing it to Truro, N.S., and saying it could apply to distribution centres or data centres. “If you had access to the energy that’s sitting there for free, why wouldn’t you?”
The only thing missing is a company willing to build it, according to Hyslop. While the original proposal involved greenhouses, he said a clean energy project would help address rising energy costs and have lower capital expense than installations like a wind farm.
He said he’s been speaking about the opportunity with other business leaders and making some presentations to build “awareness” of the opportunity.
“I just think it’s off the radar, that’s all,” Hyslop said. “When you think of geothermal as an energy source you’re not thinking about an eight-kilometre stretch of warm water a couple hundred metres down ... this is a different asset altogether and I just don’t think people know about it.”
Sussex’s economic development and long-term planning committee met with Hyslop in December, council heard at the time. Mayor Marc Thorne said in December that following the mine closure, which led to the loss of more than 400 jobs, town council, former CAO Scott Hatcher and himself had made presentations to “carry it forward” but the proposal ended up stalled.
“We worked that file very hard for a number of years to take it as far as we could,” he told Brunswick News, telling council that the “bulk” of the mine is in the Kings Rural District.
Thorne said that if Hyslop’s efforts turn up new interest, the town can forward on the information that it has and would get in touch with the province. As Hyslop suggested, he said “the whole landscape has changed” since nine years ago.
In January, the town said it was meeting with Opportunities New Brunswick, the province’s economic development agency, to discuss them taking stewardship of the file, according to committee minutes.
Bertin said ONB’s role “is to engage with regional partners at a high level to help them become investment ready.”
“While there is currently no identified proponent, ONB is working alongside community partners to explore the investment opportunity,” he said.
In a statement Monday, Nutrien spokesperson Emily Pearce said the company is “always interested in working with the community to explore innovative ways to support the Sussex and area economy.
“We would welcome the opportunity to meet with project proponents to discuss this further,” the statement reads.
The company said the Picadilly mine is producing 500,000 tonnes of salt annually, “supporting more than 80 jobs.”
Provincial Natural Resources Minister John Herron, a Liberal, has called for the company to provide “clarity” on what would be needed to reopen the mine.
Herron directed comment for this story to Opportunities NB, but said the ministry’s geotechnical team would offer support as required.
Sussex-Three Rivers MLA Tammy Scott-Wallace made geothermal energy a priority after her initial election in 2020, and told Brunswick News Monday that reopening the conversation is “very encouraging.”
“I love the idea that this conversation has been renewed,” Scott-Wallace said. “There was a lot of energy behind it at the time because ... the study proved that there is a lot of potential there, we have a resource in that old Penobsquis mine that could be invaluable.”
Scott-Wallace, the Progressive Conservative agriculture critic, said she had been focused on greenhouse development at the time because of an interest in food security and self-sufficiency during the COVID-19 pandemic. She said she would have “conversations with anyone” while in government on the project’s potential, and said it reached “the right departments,” but the interest from industry “never seemed to be there.”
“Today, we’re in a place where we still need to feed ourselves ... (and) the water is still sitting underground,” Scott-Wallace said Monday. “We also have, now more than ever, the need to look at energy sources that are outside the norm, so maybe the time is right.”
Scott-Wallace said there are “very important jobs” in salt mining now at the Picadilly mine, and that conversations around returning to mining are “very exciting,” as long as it doesn’t harm the existing jobs. She said there’s also a “lot of interest and excitement” around a proposed biogas plant in the Penobsquis area, which she said has “traditionally been a hub of activity” along with natural gas extraction.
“The idea that after the hit of 10 years ago when all those people were sent home ... and all those good paying jobs were lost, this is just very exciting,” she said.
She said there are “indicators” that the government is interested in the potential of geothermal energy, but “it can’t be done” without investors on board. She added that “I love the idea” that Hyslop stepped up as a private business owner to lead the conversation.
“Just because something didn’t work 10 years ago ... or even five years ago doesn’t mean it can’t work now,” she said. “Our needs have evolved, our priorities have changed, so I’m very optimistic here.”