China’s cryptocurrency mining sector is set to see more mining machines shipped overseas as a U.S. oil and gas company has agreed to take and operate up to 1 million mining rigs in Canada.
Nevada-based Black Rock Petroleum said it had reached an agreement with Optimum Mining Host, which appears to be a crypto mining company with significant operations in China, to “host and operate up to 1 million Bit miners to be relocated from locations in China and exported to Canada,” according to a statement.
The machines are expected to be deployed across three natural-gas production sites in Alberta, with the two companies having entered into a 24-month contract with an optional 12-month extension.
Black Rock Petroleum said the initial contract commitment was for 200,000 machines to be scheduled for deployment, with near- and mid-term plans to operate the remaining 300,000 and 500,000 machines when the local host’s capacity is ready.
“Current production levels are good, and our engineers have looked at the property’s historical production records and analyzed recent reserve evaluations, and we are confident we have the expertise, technology and resources to materially increase production,”Black Rock Petroleum CEO Zoltan Nagy said in the statement.
The company appears set to mine cryptocurrency with power generated from gas. Chinese mining rig maker Canaan, however, is exploring ways to enable green crypto mining.
Canaan announced today that it had been working with its clients to deploy sustainable energy to power their Avalon Miner mining machines. It said it had partnered with Czech solar energy company TERMS — which has diversified its business into crypto mining — to help Canaan improve the energy optimization and electricity performance of their machines powered by green energy.
TERMS operates several mining farms powered by solar energy and biogas, and about 80% of its farms’ power consumption is supplied by sustainable energy, according to the statement.
“We continue to invest further into technology innovation through extensive research and development, specifically in areas of energy optimization and power performance in order to exceed our customer’s expectations,” Canaan CEO and Chairman Nangeng Zhang said in the statement.
In addition to making mining machines, Canaan last month announced that it had launched its own crypto mining business in Kazakhstan, which has become one of the go-to destinations for Chinese miners looking to relocate their machines.
Bitmain, another Chinese mining rig maker, is also helping its clients to move their operations out of China. Last month, it called a meeting of crypto mining businesses in Chengdu, the capital of the southwestern province of Sichuan, and said that it was rolling out a “hub” service that could shorten the time required for overseas repairs from three weeks to as little as four days, according to a statement.
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