THE LEADER VOLUME 16 • NUMBER 7
New renewable territory
Editorial Director Paul Moore BSc ( Hons ), MSc Email : paul @ im-mining . com
Editor Daniel Gleeson BA ( Hons ) Email : daniel @ im-mining . com
Advertising Sales : Phil Playle Email : phil @ im-mining . com + 44 ( 0 ) 1442 870 829
Publishing Assistant Lynne Lane Email : lynne @ im-mining . com
Accounts Manager Nicola Shukla nicolas @ im-mining . com
Marketing Assistant Joanna English BA ( Hons ) jo @ im-mining . com
Circulation Assistant Jane Alter circulation @ im-mining . com
Design and Production Trevor Sheldon Email : sheldonmann @ gmail . com
Website : www . im-mining . com
Annual Subscription Enquiries Emma Smith Email : emma @ im-mining . com
Annual Subscription UK and Europe £ 160 , € 230 Rest of the world US $ 270
International Mining ( ISSN No : 1747-146X ) is published monthly by Team Publishing Ltd , GBR and is distributed in the USA by Asendia USA , 17B South Middlesex Avenue , Monroe NJ 08831 and additional mailing offices . Periodicals postage paid at New Brunswick NJ . POSTMASTER : send address changes to International Mining , 17B South Middlesex Avenue , Monroe NJ 08831
Printed by The Manson Group , St Albans , UK
© Team Publishing Ltd 2021 ISSN 1747 -146X
IM uses , as preference , SI units throughout , so , for example , all tonnes are metric unless otherwise stated . All dollars are US unless otherwise stated
You do not get much more remote than OZ Minerals ’ West Musgrave copper-nickel project . Located in the Ngaanyatjarra Aboriginal Lands of central Western Australia , it is some 1,300 km northeast of Perth and 1,400 km northwest of Adelaide ; near the intersection of the borders between Western Australia , South Australia and the Northern Territory .
This makes the company ’ s ambition of developing a mine able to produce circa-32,000 t / y of copper and around 26,000 t / y of nickel in concentrates that leverages 100 % renewable generation and can conduct ‘ zero carbon mining ’ even bolder .
OZ Minerals is not taking this challenge on by itself . In addition to multiple consultants and engineering companies engaged in a feasibility study , the company has enlisted the help of ENGIE Impact , the consulting arm of multinational electric utility company ENGIE , to come up with a roadmap that could see it employ renewable technologies to reach its zero ambitions .
Its input will prove crucial to the ultimate sustainability success at West Musgrave .
Having worked with others in the mining space such as Vale ’ s New Caledonia operations , Joshua Martin , Senior Director , Sustainability Solutions APAC , says OZ Minerals is being “ pretty ambitious ” when it comes to decarbonisation .
“ Our job is to assess if the renewable base case stacks up for West Musgrave , create multiple decarbonisation pathways for their consideration and look at what technology should be adopted to achieve their overall aims ,” he said .
This latter element is particularly important for an off-grid project like West Musgrave , which is unlikely to start producing until around mid-2025 should a positive investment decision follow the upcoming feasibility study .
While solar , wind and battery back-up are all likely to play a role in the power plans at West Musgrave , more emerging technologies are likely to be factored into a roadmap towards 100 % renewable adoption .
“ We are developing a series of roadmaps that factor in where we think technologies will be in the future ,” Martin said . “ These roadmaps come with a series of decision gates where the company will need to take one option at that point in time if they are to pursue that particular decarbonisation pathway .”
These roadmaps use ENGIE Impact ’ s consulting and engineering nous , as well as the consultancy ’ s PROSUMER software that is used on any asset-level decarbonisation project roadmap , according to Martin . OZ Minerals ’ December 2020 prefeasibility study update went some way to mapping out its decarbonisation ambition for West Musgrave , with a 50 MW Power Purchase Agreement that involved hybrid renewables ( wind , solar , battery , plus diesel or gas ).
The company said in this study : “ Modelling has demonstrated that circa 70-80 % renewables penetration can be achieved for the site , with the current modelled to be an optimised mix of wind , solar and diesel supported by a battery installation .”
OZ Minerals said there was considerable upside in power cost through matching plant power demand with the availability of renewable supply ( load scheduling ), haulage electrification to maximise the proportion of renewable energy used , and the continued improvement in the efficiency of renewable energy solutions .
ENGIE Impact ’ s view on hydrogen and electric haulage in the pit may be considered here , complemented by the preliminary results coming out of the Electric Mine Consortium , a collaborative mine electrification project OZ Minerals is taking part in with other miners such as Evolution Mining , South32 , Gold Fields and IGO .
On the non-electric pathway , ENGIE Impact ’ s hydrogen work with Anglo American and others could also be leveraged .
If OZ Minerals ’ early technology views are anything to go by , it is willing to take some risk when it comes to adopting new technology .
The preliminary flowsheet in the prefeasibility study factored in a significant reduction in carbon emissions and power demand through the adoption of vertical roller mills from Loesche as the grinding mill solution , and Direct Flotation Reactors from Woodgrove to achieve metal recovery at a much coarser grind size than was previously considered in the design .
While mining at West Musgrave is modelled to be conventional drill , blast , load and haul , the haulage fleet will comprise up to 25 , 220 t haul trucks , with optionality for fully autonomous haulage in the future .
OZ Minerals is aware of the statement it would make to industry if it were to power all this technology from renewable sources .
“ With a future focus on developing a roadmap to 100 % renewable generation , and reducing dependency upon fossil fuels over time , West Musgrave will become one of the largest fully off-grid , renewable powered mines in the world ,” it said in the updated PFS . “ The solution would result in the avoidance of in excess of 220,000 tonnes per annum of carbon dioxide emissions compared to a fully diesel-powered operation .”
The company ’ s Hybrid Energy Plant at Carrapateena in South Australia , whose initial setup includes solar PV , battery storage , diesel generation and a micro-grid controller , will provide a test case for this .
Martin and ENGIE Impact agree OZ Minerals is one of many forward-thinking mining companies striving for zero operations with a serious decarbonisation plan .
These industry leaders would do well to communicate with each other on their renewable ambitions , according to Martin . Such collaboration can help them all achieve their goals collectively , as opposed to individually . The coming together of BHP , Rio Tinto , Vale , Roy Hill , Teck , Boliden and Thiess for the ‘ Charge on Innovation Challenge ’ is a good example of this , where the patrons are pooling resources to come up with workable solutions for faster charging of large surface electric mining trucks .
“ In the Pilbara , for example , there is a real opportunity to create a decarbonisation masterplan that seeks to capitalise on economies of scale ,” Martin said . “ If all the companies work towards that end goal collaboratively , they could achieve it much faster and at a much lower cost than if they go it alone .”
When it comes to OZ Minerals , the miner is clearly open to collaboration , whether it be with ENGIE Impact on decarbonisation , The Electric Mine Consortium , the recently opened Hybrid Energy Plant at Carrapateena , the EU-funded NEXGEN SIMS project , or various crowd sourcing challenges .
Daniel Gleeson Editor daniel @ im-mining . com
JULY 2021 | International Mining 3