Compass Mining, the one-stop-shopping online bitcoin mining and hosting service announced today that it is adding 140 megawatts (MW) to its current 30MW capacity.
Compass is partnering with Red Jar Digital Infrastructure to host a new mega facility in Ontario, Canada to provide Compass miners with what the announcement says is “marking the largest amount of power ever allocated for the company’s miners at a single facility”.
“More than doubling our current capacity with this newest deal is a big step forward in Compass Mining’s business model to provide retail bitcoin miners with the ability to compete at an institutional level,” said Compass Mining CEO Whit Gibbs. “We are excited to take advantage of the larger capacity and host an exponentially greater number of ASICs, better serving our customers’ desires to mine bitcoin while reducing their overall impact on the environment.”
Compass has expanded to include sites in the US, Russia, and Kazakhstan in the last year. However, Ontario is a first for Compass Mining which already has facilities in the Canadian provinces of Alberta, Quebec, Manitoba, New Brunswick, and Newfoundland.
Cambridge Center for Alternative Finance has the hashrate for all of Canada at 3% but Luxor Technologies that studies hash rates estimates that Canada’s is more like 7.8%. At this point, Ontario’s hashrate isn’t a factor but cheap power and a business friendly government may change that.
In this deal with RJDI, Compass will help to “manage the site buildout, train onsite staff, and provide ongoing operational oversight for the new facility” according to the announcement.
Partnering With Red Jar Digital Infrastructure
The new Ontario facility will be jointly managed by Compass and Red Jar Digital Infrastructure (RJDI), a first for both companies. Based in Oakville, Ontario RJDI says on its website:
“We are successful entrepreneurs, corporate finance experts, deal makers and operators who want to partner with people that we like and trust to help them build great companies — and have some fun along the way.”
The company founded and manages Spark Power which has 35 facilities in North America including a number in Ontario — Oakville, Brampton, Mississauga, Hamilton, and Toronto.
In the announcement today, Ron Dizy, CEO of RJDI, said:
“Our deep knowledge and experience in managing complex electrical projects and understanding of the intricacies of tariff structures across Canada complements Compass Mining’s expertise in ASIC sourcing and hosting. We are delighted to partner with them on the development of our first bitcoin mining facility.”
“We look forward to developing additional sites and utilizing Ontario’s competitive power rates and numerous sources of clean energy,” he added.
Focus On Green Mining
Both Compass and RJDI are committed to sustainable, environmentally sound energy and this facility will be 95% clean energy according to the announcement.
“This facility is powered mostly by nuclear and hydro. Right now most companies are offering between 8-12 cents per kilowatt hour to retail miners. This site will allow us to provide rates well below those offered elsewhere,” Gibbs told Bitcoin Magazine in an interview.
Recently Compass Mining signed a 20-year partnership agreement with California-based power company Oklo to launch an advanced fission powered bitcoin facility.
The first ASICs in the new facility are set to come online by the end of January 2022.