A Calgary company has a 10-year deal to extract natural gas from the coal fields underneath Springhill, the first development deal of its kind in Nova Scotia.

Stealth Ventures Ltd. has drilled three exploratory wells in the Cumberland Basin, but the company has much more work planned before it decides whether to go into commercial production.

"Are we encouraged? Yes. We've seen pressures, we've seen good data in this basin, we've seen very predictable geology in this basin. But we aren't there yet," said Stealth CEO Rob Bell.

The 10-year production agreement with the province, announced Tuesday, gives Stealth the right to commercially develop methane from the Cumberland Basin coal seam.

Within weeks, the company will pump water into the seam, fracturing the coal and releasing methane that will flow up to the surface. Stealth plans to spend four years in full production, if it gets positive test results.

"We would look at up to 1,000 drill sites," said Bell.

However, there is no guarantee of success. Coal-bed methane has never been commercially developed in Atlantic Canada.

"It is often hard to predict what the coals are going to do when you try to produce them," said Kim Doane, who is with Nova Scotia's Department of Energy.

Stealth has committed to spending $2 million in 2008 and expects to have a better idea of its prospects by then. At the moment, there is no word on how many jobs this might mean. And so far, the company has only cleared a bureaucratic hurdle.

Nevertheless, people like Charlie Atkinson have high hopes for the project.

"It could mean more jobs, more growth for the area, more homes," said Atkinson, with Central Power Sports in Springhill.