Tag Archives: Egypt

Centamin’s Sukari solar power plant performing ahead of expectations

Centamin says the solar plant at its Sukari gold mine, in Egypt, has entered the final stages of commissioning and is delivering savings ahead of expectations.

Furthermore, it says continued progress has been made to assess the opportunity to use Egyptian grid power at Sukari.

The solar plant, which is made up of a 36 MW solar farm and 7.5 MW batteryenergy storage system, has been consistently delivering 36 MW DC, converting to 30 MW AC of power, since early September, the company said. This reduction in exposure to volatile fuel pricing with commissioning is saving the company up to 70,000 litres per day of diesel and averaging a reduction in diesel consumption of 22 million litres per year, according to Centamin.

Based on current diesel prices, this means the plant has the potential to provide annual cost savings of $20 million, alongside an expected reduction in Scope 1 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of 60,000 t/y CO2 equivalent and a subsequent reduction in volume of diesel trucked to site.

Full commissioning of the solar plant is expected this quarter, the company added.

Centamin previously awarded the engineering, procurement and construction contracts for the 36 MW solar farm and 7.5 MW batteryenergy storage system at Sukari to juwi AG and Giza Systems. juwi was contracted to design, supply and integrate the Sukari solar and battery plant into the current diesel power plant, while Giza Systems was contracted to install the Sukari solar plant. To maximise the total energy generation, the project is using bifacial solar photovoltaic modules and single axis tracking. juwi Hybrid IQ microgrid technology will enable the integration of the solar and battery system into the existing offgrid network and support the operation of the existing power station, according to the company.

On top of the solar plant news, Centamin revealed it is actively engaged with government and independent power providers to further reduce its reliance on diesel at Sukari. Its initial proposals to supply 3050 MW AC of grid power to Sukari have been received and an internal evaluation is underway for potential integration from 2024, it said.

Fifty megawatts of AC grid power supply creates the potential to fully displace the use of diesel for power generation at Sukari, Centamin said. The minimum 30 MW AC of grid power, combined with the existing 30 MW AC of solar power, creates the potential to operate during daylight hours without using any diesel power generation and substantially offsetting diesel consumption during night time hours, it said.

The Egyptian grid power is generated from natural gas and a mix of renewables, such as hydro, solar and wind, creating the opportunity to further reduce Sukari’s GHG emissions. Further, the Egyptian industrial grid tariffs are significantly cheaper than the cost of power
generation using diesel fuel, Centamin said.

Martin Horgan, CEO of Centamin, said: “Delivery of this critical project is instrumental to our ongoing commitment to reduce our reliance on diesel fuel, minimise greenhouse gas emissions and realising material cost savings. The solar plant and potential to integrate grid power will contribute materially to our environmental stewardship philosophy and our strategic objective of maximising returns for all stakeholders.

Rio Tinto’s Richard Bay Minerals to go solar with help of Voltalia, BEE partners

Rio Tinto’s 74%-owned Richard’s Bay Minerals (RBM) business will soon be supplied with renewable solar power through an agreement with international energy company Voltalia and local Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) partners, for its operation in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, Rio says.

Under the agreement, Voltalia will begin construction of the Bolobedu Solar PV renewable energy project in 2023, at a site in the province of Limpopo. The power plant is scheduled to be complete by 2024 and will deliver an annual generation capacity of up to 300 GWh. It will feed into the national power grid to supply RBM’s smelting and processing facilities through a “wheeling agreement”.

The renewable power supply is expected to cut RBM’s annual greenhouse gas emissions by at least 10%, or 237,000 t/y of CO2e, Rio says.

Rio Tinto Minerals Chief Executive, Sinead Kaufman, said: “The agreement, which is a first step towards reducing RBM’s carbon emissions, is a major milestone and one that is in line with Rio Tinto’s decarbonisation strategy. As this solar energy project progresses, we will continue exploring additional renewable solutions that further reduce our emissions in South Africa and make Richards Bay Minerals a contributor to our net zero commitment.”

Voltalia CEO, Sébastien Clerc, added: “We are very pleased to support RBM in its decarbonisation journey. The Bolobedu photovoltaic power plant will be our biggest project in Africa, after performing construction of a series of other solar plants for us or for clients, in the continent (Zimbabwe, Burundi, Tanzania, Kenya, Mauritania and Egypt). This project is the first of our South African large solar-and-wind portfolio under development, in areas with grid connection available, that will be ready to support our clients to overpass the actual energy crisis with affordable, clean and stable electricity.”

Voltalia will work to ensure the Bolobedu Solar PV project creates local employment opportunities for the surrounding communities. A total workforce of more than 700 people is expected during construction, with a workforce of around 50 people once the plant becomes operational.

The project will also provide skills development opportunities for members of the surrounding communities, and a bursary program for young local learners. In support of South Africa’s growing renewable energy sector value chain, Voltalia will work to source its goods and services locally.

The Bolobedu Solar PV power plant will be 51% black-owned through BEE partners, with a minimum 10% stake going to black women, while the host community will also have a participation.

Centamin working with VR Steel, Real Mining and Aresco on truck tray rollout at Sukari

Centamin’s Sukari gold mine in Egypt is in the process of upgrading its fleet of Caterpillar 785C haul trucks with “lightweight truck trays” designed by VR Steel and fabricated by Egypt-based Aresco.

In 2020, the miner trialled the use of these high production trays, which demonstrated a 10% gain in truck productivity through larger payload and faster cycle time. This led to a decision for a broader roll-out in 2021 across the haul fleet, Centamin said in its 2020 sustainability report.

The introduction of these trays, designed so the floor can be replaced for extended overall service life, are part of the company’s plans to improve cycle loading times and truck/loader matching at the gold operation. They also bring sustainability benefits to the operation given they reduce the truck body weight, increase the payload and improve fuel and tyre efficiency.

Centamin, in the 2020 sustainability report, confirmed it had placed an order for the local fabrication of 44 high production trays to fit the haul fleet in accordance with OEM specifications.

Austin partners with Belarus-based equipment dealer to further Eastern Europe sales growth

Austin Engineering Ltd has appointed Engineering Company Mining Technology LLC as its partner for the Eastern Europe region, covering Belarus, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Ukraine, Poland, Serbia, Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The appointment is part of Austin’s strategy to form partnerships in new jurisdictions, enabling the mining equipment solutions provider to widen its networks into new and existing global markets, resulting in further potential sales opportunities and benefits from a local partner’s customer relationships and local knowledge.

Austin says it is keen to grow the business in regions that it has traditionally not widely serviced, including Brazil and Eastern Europe.

Belarus-based Engineering Company Mining Technology LLC has developed a wealth of professional contacts within the regions it operates, with large original equipment manufacturers, mining companies and contractors, according to Austin. It has already sourced several important tender opportunities for Austin to enable users in these regions to benefit from light-weight mining attachments to enhance productivity.

The appointment follows the establishment of Austin-ETT Africa in South Africa in 2020.

On this relationship, specifically, Austin said it recently shipped 17 Austin Ultima truck bodies and two Austin High Performance buckets to Egypt through the Austin-ETT Africa, with more orders expected from active tenders across the African continent.

Austin Managing Director, Peter Forsyth, said: “We are aggressively pursuing global growth initiatives. We have a fantastic suite of products and services and we operate successfully in our traditional markets. However, we see an opportunity to grow our business and provide improved solutions to miners in new territories like Eastern Europe. In Engineering Company Mining Technology LLC, we believe we have found the right strategic partner in this region and we’re excited for our relationship to further strengthen through shared success.”

Capital to take on open-pit waste mining at Centamin’s Sukari gold mine

Capital Limited has entered a conditional open-pit waste mining services contract with Sukari Gold Mines and has also expanded and extended its existing drilling contract with Sukari.

Sukari is the operating company for the Sukari gold mine, in Egypt, one of the largest gold mines in Africa and the principal asset of Centamin.

Collectively, the contracts are anticipated to deliver incremental revenues of $235-260 million over a four-year period, commencing January 1, 2021, representing the largest award of new business in the company’s history.

The 120 Mt open-pit waste mining contract at Sukari will see Capital provide load and haul and ancillary services over a period of four years. At the same time, the existing drilling contract at Sukari has been extended to December 31, 2024 (from September 30, 2023) and expanded by nine additional blasthole rigs, bringing the rigs operating at Sukari to 24 in total.

To date, Capital has spent $23.4 million towards equipment and has made strong progress with early works, key personnel hiring and advanced operational planning, it said. It has also signed an OEM facility with Sandvik for $8.5 million and an OEM facility with Epiroc is awaiting final credit approval with documentation in near final form.

Jamie Boyton, Executive Chairman, said: “The winning of the tender for the Sukari open-pit waste mining contract is a significant milestone for Capital – it is the largest contract win for the group since inception, adds substantial scale to our mining services division, as well as providing revenue diversification from our drilling services business.

“We are also pleased to have increased the scope and scale of our existing drilling contract. Having operated at the Sukari mine since 2005, which started commercial gold production over a decade ago, Capital is pleased to be deepening further its strong client relationship with Centamin in assisting with the generation of significant value to Centamin over the medium and longer term as the Sukari mine enters its next phase of gold production.”

Martin Horgan, CEO of Centamin, said: “With the focus on improving operational flexibility at Sukari, introducing contract mining over the next few years for waste stripping in the open pit is cost and time effective. Following a rigorous tender process, Capital was determined to be the best suited to deliver what is needed.

“Capital is a trusted contractor to the company, with a strong understanding of Sukari and the operating environment, including the employment of local workforce and established training programs, consistent with Centamin’s approach to local workforce development.”

As part of this increased open-pit waste stripping program, Centamin continues to use its existing owner operator fleet, which has capacity of 80-90 Mt/y total material moved (ore and waste). The company said it conducted an independent contract mining tender process to assess incremental contract waste stripping costs, and capacity, against the cost to expand the current owner-operator mining fleet.

Centamin added: “It was concluded that the optimal integration of contract mining was to isolate the waste stripping workstream on the East wall of the open pit, thereby limiting the day-to-day interaction with the operations and simplifying operational oversight and planning from a health, safety and logistical standpoint. The East wall waste stripping program will move material to a dedicated waste dump.”

Austin truck bodies, buckets on their way to Egypt, Ukraine, Argentina and Dominican Republic

Austin Engineering’s growth initiative to expand the company’s presence into new markets appears to be working, with the company having recently won contracts to deliver products to Africa (Egypt), Eastern Europe (Ukraine), and South and Central America (Argentina and the Dominican Republic).

This is the first time in the company’s history that product has been supplied to these countries, it said.

The total value of orders, consisting of truck bodies and buckets, received is in excess of A$6 million ($4.3 million) and is anticipated to provide a springboard for further sales into these markets, the company said. The majority of the orders received by value have been provided from subsidiary companies of large global miners, it noted.

The order received in Egypt was made possible by the Austin ETT joint venture partnership entered into earlier this year. Prior to this partnership, Austin would not have been in the running for this opportunity, further cementing the value in collaborating with the right strategic partners in territories that Austin does not currently have a physical presence, the company said.

In line with this strategy, Austin Engineering has also recently signed a contract with a representative in South America to work with potential clients in Brazil and is in the process of finalising a representative to support Austin in Eastern Europe.

“Both of these markets have a large field population of mining trucks and shovels and could be important markets for Austin in the medium term,” the company said.

Austin Engineering Managing Director, Peter Forsyth, said: “These new territories are important to Austin’s growth aspirations, as there are a number of mining regions around the world that are still largely operating with standard OEM products for truck bodies and excavator buckets. Adoption of Austin’s innovative replacement products in these regions would enhance production metrics significantly.

“Partnerships are proving key to our success in entering these new regions and allow us to leverage our experience with our partners’ commercial contacts to achieve great outcomes for Austin, our clients and our partners.”