Conifex Timber Inc. has turned to the court to overturn a provincial government moratorium on any new cryptocurrency mines in B.C.
Although better known as a sawmiller, for years Conifex has generated power at its bio-energy plant in Mackenzie and sold it to BC Hydro. By November 2021 a small-scale "high-performance computing" data centre was up and running in the community 186 kilometres north of Prince George, pursuant to an amended energy supply agreement with the Crown corporation.
Both require 150 megawatts of power and the Salmon Valley project was to be located directly adjacent to a Hydro facility in the area and the Ashton Creek site within a few kilometres of another facility in that area, both selected in collaboration with the Crown corporation. . In part, Conifex claims the order in council exceeds the powers granted to provincial cabinet under the Utilities Commission Act. The company also claims the order breaches the province's Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act because the centres are being developed in partnership with the Tsay Keh Dene First Nation.