Interesting5 Jan 2015 12:17
Dec '14/Jan '15
Winds of change blow for renewables
Alternative energy sources are playing a larger role in miners’ strategies
By Kelsey Rolfe
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Adrienne Baker
The Renewables and Mining Summit and Exhibition is only in its second year, but with several renewable energy projects commissioned at mine sites this year, the focus at the event has changed in short order.
While the 2013 conference revolved around whether alternative power solutions like solar and wind farms, natural gas, and fuel cells were feasible, this year “there’s no question of that,” noted Adrienne Baker, director of conference organizer Energy and Mines, in her opening remarks at the event held in October in Toronto.
Mining companies are demonstrating that renewable energy projects are doable and beneficial – especially for mines located in remote regions – and they are becoming increasingly popular. The central question now, Baker suggested, is how much of a role renewables can play in a mine’s energy mix, and what the production cost will be.
Representatives from Glencore’s Raglan mine and its partner Tugliq Energy explained how the northern Quebec nickel and copper mine plans to cut 2.5 million litres of diesel fuel from its annual consumption of 60 million litres through the installation of three wind turbines and a hydrogen fuel cell storage system. (The mine is the highest diesel consumer in the Arctic, due to its lack of access to grid and natural gas power.) The first three-megawatt (MW) wind turbine was installed in late August.
The cost of renewable energy is becoming more competitive, and in remote locations like parts of Africa, where grid power is prohibitively expensive or simply not available, solar and wind farms are being touted as the most viable options.
Ron Halas, Iamgold’s commercial vice-president of South America, highlighted the benefits of the company’s recent implementation of a massive solar plant at its open-pit Rosebel gold mine in Suriname. A combination of the increasing need for power to mine the lower-grade ore and no additional hydroelectric capacity at Suriname’s major hydro facility prompted Iamgold to partner with the Suriname government to build a 5 MW solar farm on site. The project was completed below budget, at just under $12 million, in July and is now operational.
The farm, composed of more than 16,000 panels, makes up a small amount of the mine’s power use: of the 38 MW per day the mine uses, it draws on the solar plant for 1.4 MW. “I’d be lying if I said it’s our main source of power,” Halas said, but added that “it’s quite an environmental saving as well as a cost saving for us.” Iamgold plans to implement a similar solution at its Essakane gold mine in Burkina Faso, and has set
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