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line , the company will also be sourcing hydro power from Hydro- Québec , the Quebec public utility . This will make the Windfall Project the company has just bought into in Canada , essentially 100 % reliant on hydro renewable electricity . Cerro Corona mine in Peru is yet another operation running 100 % on certified renewable hydro power .
During 2023 , 17 % of the electricity consumed by Gold Fields ’ operations was renewable , compared with 13 % a year earlier . The new project at St Ives promises to bump that number up to 23 % once the project is complete .
Second port of call – cutting out diesel Diesel consumption makes up a significant amount of the carbon emissions at Gold Fields and Preece said that this would be the next challenge to be tackled , either by reducing the use of vehicles altogether , replacing them with battery electric vehicles ( BEVs ) or by replacing the diesel with alternatives like biofuel . He noted that there is still a lot of work to be done in this area as there are major challenges hindering the transition . Biofuels are not only four times more expensive than diesel , but the use of these fuels is often not backed by OEMs supplying mines with fleets . The use of alternative fuels could put warrantees on high capital machinery at risk . “ We have run trials on BEVs and the results are not yet where we need them to be for our environment and mining conditions . The current challenges lie in the rate of battery depletion , the change-out time on batteries and performance versus our current diesel operated machinery .”
In Australia , where the company trucks material out from underground , a possible solution is currently being investigated using conveyors on rail – railveyors – to transport material . If viable , this would allow Gold Fields to move material from underground with this solution and power the railveyor using renewable electricity . This would significantly reduce the need for diesel trucks and reduce carbon emissions substantially .
One of the first projects to be commissioned with this goal in mind was a hybrid renewable power plant in 2019 / 20 in Western Australia at the Agnew mine , an underground operation . This was a complete solution including solar , wind turbines , gas generator , battery power storage and diesel back-up power . Preece highlighted : “ Currently , on average , 50 % of the power consumed at Agnew is generated by renewables , and on a good sunny , windy day this can increase to just shy of 70 %.” Agnew is planning to instal more solar panels to add another 10 – 12MW to its capacity .
At the time of writing , Preece noted that the Gold Fields board was close to making a decision on a USD195-million renewable microgrid at St Ives , also in Western Australia . “ This project speaks to financial viability and logic . It promises to take the St Ives operations to 72 % of renewable energy consumption , with significant cost and environmental benefits . Further down the
Third port of call – scope 3 emissions A big step for Gold Fields in the goal to reach Net Zero by 2050 is to reduce its scope 3 emissions . “ In line with this , we have recently committed to reduce scope three emissions by 10 % by 2030 ,” says Preece . “ The hope is that we achieve more than this set target , but we do not want to overcommit in this space as scope 3 is far more difficult to achieve given that these are emissions largely generated outside our control principally by our suppliers . We plan to work closely with suppliers of bulk materials , such as cement ( for construction work and to add to backfill ) and steel .
“ The hope is that our suppliers will also commit and invest in decarbonising , seeing the value in working with operations that secure long term business contracts and investing in longterm relationships built on trust . “ We will most probably have to absorb some premium to pay for greener products , but it is not
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