Each year, the Tourism Estevan committee offers free energy tours during the spring and summer months, providing a glimpse into the local energy sector for local residents and visitors alike.
The tours take people to the Westmoreland Coal Company’s mine site, as well as SaskPower’s Shand Power Station and the Shand Greenhouse.
Rebecca Westling, who is the destination market and communications consultant with Tourism Estevan and the City of Estevan, said 646 people took an energy tour last year. That number doesn’t include school tours.
Fourteen Energy Tours were offered through local schools last year.
“For people on the tours, there was an increase from 2015 by 35 per cent,” said Westling.
Tours happen at 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. They begin at the Visitor Information Centre west of the city. Westling asks that people arrive a few minutes before the tour arrives, so they can be outfitted with safety gear and receive a brief explanation from the tour guide before embarking on the tour.
“It takes you right down into the mine site,” said Westling. “You get to see the coal haulers being loaded, and see the actual drag lines digging for coal. From there, they tour you around, and show you the different sizes of the draglines.”
The tours then proceed to the Shand Power Station, where they get to see how the coal generates electricity.
Tours wrap up at the Shand Greenhouse.
Westling took a tour last fall when she was showing people from Tourism Saskatchewan around Estevan.
“It was pretty exciting, because they had never seen anything like that, so to experience it again from a new perspective and see the questions they had to ask was very exciting,” said Westling.
They were very impressed with the tour, the information that was provided and the knowledge of the tour guide.
“They wanted to see first-hand, and experience first-hand, what the tour is, so they can actually explain what the tour has,” said Westling.
Westling had taken the tour a few times in the past.
There will be a new tour guide this year, Chloe Hjorteland. She works for the Westmoreland Coal Company and is very knowledgeable, Westling said.
“She knows all of the ins and outs of the mines and the power station and the greenhouse,” said Westling.
A few tours have been booked already this year. They have had three separate groups, and a total of nine people, take the tours, as of Friday afternoon.
“They were local people who were showing around people from outside the community,” said Westling.
School tours typically start at the end of May or in early June. They have lots of school tours booked already, she said, and the students are eager to see the sites.
Westling believes the tours are a great opportunity for people to give friends and families an inside look at mining and power generation, which are driving forces behind the local economy.
To book a tour, contact Tourism Estevan’s Visitor Information Centre at 306-634-6044.
