CANADIAN TECHNOLOGY
De Beers Canada, having successfully
“winterised” the conventional power solution at
its mines in northern Canada, is looking at a
100% renewable electricity solution for its
recently-acquired Chidliak diamond project, Chief
Executive, Kim Truter, told attendees at the
Energy and Mines World Congress, in Toronto, in
December.
Chidliak is located on Baffin Island, which runs
100% on diesel power, but due to the extreme
remoteness of the proposed operation, “the
energy solution for Chidliak has to be different”,
Truter said.
The hidden cost that comes with using diesel
power generation is the required supply chain
infrastructure, ie roads, according to Truter.
Another consideration that has led De Beers
Canada to this thinking is the size of Chidliak’s
orebodies. As these are small, there is a need for
a reduced footprint and the movability of plant as
the bodies become mined out, he said.
At the event, Truter said renewable
supplementation of diesel baseload was growing
in the industrial sector, but a microgrid to
regulate and accurately feed power through to a
100% renewable power system “does not appear
to exist”.
The Government of Canada is doing its utmost
to provide such renewable power solutions,
having recently backed two new projects that
could see an increase in the amount of green
energy used on two remote mine sites in
Nunavut and Quebec.
This combined C$4.2 million investment went
into two TUGLIQ Energy projects. An investment
of C$283,000 will enable TUGLIQ to complete a
front-end engineering and design study to
integrate compressed air energy storage into its
operations, enabling increased use of wind
energy at a Nunavut mine, which IM understands
to be TMAC Resources’ Hope Bay gold project.
“This project will demonstrate that such a
system can achieve significant reductions in
diesel consumption,” the Government of Canada
said.
A second investment of C$3.9 million in
RAGLAN 2.0 will expand Nunavik’s first
renewable energy production and storage centre
for 16 regional mining operations and Inuit
communities in this Arctic region, as well as
other mining operations abroad, it said.
RAGLAN 2.0 builds on a prior landmark
project, RAGLAN 1.0, which conclusively proved
the technical and operational capabilities of
industrial-scale renewable energy at northern
sites (Glencore’s Raglan nickel mine), under
harsh industrial and climatic conditions,
according to Natural Resources Canada.
In 2018, TUGLIQ doubled its installed capacity
at the Raglan mine, with a total of 6 MW now up
and running, producing clean electricity from
wind energy in this remote area of the Canadian
Arctic. In February, TUGLIQ said the wind turbine
at Raglan had abated more than 10 million litres
of diesel and 28,000 t of CO 2 .
RAGLAN 2.0 is expected to expand Nunavik’s
first renewable-energy production and storage
centre, for the regional benefit and learnings of
16 mining operations and Inuit communities in
this Arctic region as well as the other mining
operations abroad, according to the NRC.
It involves project partners Enercon, Glencore’s
Raglan mine, Hatch, Moreau Electrique and
Québec’s Ministry of Natural Resources –
EcoPerformance Program.
Battery metals
Many of these clean energy initiatives require an
increasing amount of battery minerals and
metals such as lithium, graphite, cobalt and
nickel. In order to provide batteries with the
energy density and life many of these green
energy systems require – especially in the case
of electric vehicles – higher purity lithium
concentrate will be required, according to
ArrMaz.
These requirements are challenging lithium
miners and mineral processors to meet or exceed
grade targets while maximising recovery, the
company said.
This is of significance in Quebec and Ontario
where several hard-rock lithium assets are being
scoped out or
developed.
“Better grade opens
the door for higher end
market use and the
opportunity for higher
concentrate prices,”
ArrMaz said. “Even a 1%
increase in grade can
deliver between $100-
200 in additional value
per tonne of
spodumene concentrate
to mineral processing
operations.”
Producers can
maximise grade and
recovery without
significant capital
investment by
partnering with
flotation experts such
as ArrMaz, the company
said, adding that it can
help to develop a
better-performing
flotation reagent
customised specifically
for the ore.
ArrMaz said:
Examples of different spodumene concentrate
grades in ArrMaz’s laboratory
“Lithium-bearing ore characteristics differ from
deposit to deposit globally, with often varied and
challenging levels of impurities. An expert team
of specialists can design a reagent system
(reagent + flowsheet + equipment type) to solve
the specific ore challenge at hand and deliver
value growth to rate-challenged or out-of-date
processing plants.”
When developing new lithium resources,
ArrMaz recommends engaging the reagent
development supplier at the start of the process.
This allows the reagent to be designed with
flowsheet and plant equipment in mind,
maximising return on investment. “However, if
the mineral processing plant is already
operational, it is still possible to improve lithium
grade and recovery with the development and
use of the right flotation reagents,” ArrMaz said.
ArrMaz’s innovation centre has been exploring
chemistries to develop the next generation of
APRIL 2019 | International Mining 83