Tag Archives: Nikolai Zelenski

Nordgold and DuPont Sustainable Solutions to develop safety improvement roadmap

Communications in mining, Mining safety, Mining services, Sustainable mining, , , , , , ,

Nordgold says it will develop a safety improvement roadmap for its mining operations with DuPont Sustainable Solutions (DSS).

The gold miner has invited DSS, an operations management consulting firm, to conduct a comprehensive assessment of the safety culture of the company’s operations, it said.

The project is a part of Nordgold’s global Technical Excellence program, aimed at improving processes, systems and employee skills to successfully align them with the industry best practices throughout the entire value chain, including ESG processes.

The assessment will cover all mines and include documentation reviews, interviews, field visits and focus groups.

DSS is to support Nordgold’s leadership in developing a three-year safety improvement roadmap and health, safety and environmental competency model, to deliver a sustained risk reduction and improved safety performance of more than 8,000 Nordgold employees and contractors.

In 2020, Nordgold says it achieved zero employee fatalities and decreased its LTIFR to 0.14.

Nikolai Zelenski, Nordgold CEO, said: “Safety remains at the core of everything we do and this partnership is a pragmatic example of our commitment towards achieving zero harm for our people.”

Nordgold asks China’s SUMEC to power up Lefa gold mine

Environmental, Mine operation news, Mining services, Power supply for mines, Precious metals, Sustainable mining, , , , , , , , , ,

Nordgold Group is looking to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions with the construction of a new 33 MW power plant at its Lefa mine in Guinea.

The gold producer has signed an engineering, procurement and construction agreement with China manufacturing service group SUMEC, a key member of China National Machinery Industry Corporation (SINOMACH), to design and construct the plant.

The new heavy fuel oil facility will replace the existing power plant, in turn reducing both fuel consumption for electricity production by 15% and engine oil by 30%, according to Nordgold. This will result in a 17,000 t/y reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, the company said, which is in line with Nordgold’s climate change objectives as well as its commitments to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

Hyundai Heavy Industries, the world’s largest shipbuilding company and leading manufacture of heavy industry machinery, is providing the power plant’s main generating equipment.

Nordgold said: “The power plant will enable a significant reduction in operating costs, in addition to enhancing the stability of the electricity supply for over 15 years of Lefa’s life of mine. Moreover, the installation of the latest fire detection systems will increase employee safety.”

The design and construction of the project is expected to cost around $23 million, with the power plant expected to be completed by the end of 2021.

During construction, hundreds of additional jobs will be created and essential construction materials including sand, cement, gravel amongst others will be sourced locally from Guinean suppliers, according to Nordgold.

Nikolai Zelenski, CEO of Nordgold, said: “Even during these challenging times, we remain committed to investing in Guinea. The new power plant is an important investment as it enables us to both decrease greenhouse gas emissions and provide sustainable power generation for our Lefa mine. We are looking forward to working with SUMEC and Hyundai to achieve this project.”

Nordgold acquired the Lefa mine in 2010, with annual gold output almost trebling since, according to the company. The mine, a conventional modern open-pit operation with three major mining areas and several smaller, higher grade satellite pits providing additional ore feed for the mill, produced 189,800 oz of gold in 2019.

Last year, Nord Gold the company did its climate change objectives no harm after entering into an exclusive agreement with Total Eren, an independent power producer specialised in renewable energies, and Africa Energy Management Platform, its strategic development partner, to construct a 13 MW solar photovoltaic power plant for its Bissa and Bouly gold mines in Burkina Faso.

Nordgold looks to the sun for Bouly, Bissa mine power

Environmental, Mine operation news, Mining services, Power supply for mines, Precious metals, Sustainable mining, , , , , , , , ,

Nord Gold has entered into an exclusive agreement with Total Eren, an independent power producer (IPP) specialised in renewable energies, and Africa Energy Management Platform (AEMP), its strategic development partner, to construct a 13 MW solar photovoltaic power plant for its Bissa and Bouly gold mines in Burkina Faso.

Construction of the power plant will begin shortly, with completion expected in the December quarter of 2020, Nordgold said.

“The new Solar PV will provide Bissa and Bouly with power for both mines’ daily operational needs, thereby significantly reducing reliance on the existing thermal power plant,” the company said. “In addition to significantly enhancing the environmental sustainability of the mines, the solar plant will increase security of supply, and reduce costs at both mines.”

Under the terms of the agreement, Total Eren and AEMP will develop, finance, construct and operate a solar PV plant complemented by a battery energy storage system, reducing the mine’s fuel consumption by approximately 6.4 million litres and CO2 emission by approximately 18,000 t/y, the company said.

This type of project is not new to Total Eren. The company, in tandem with other partners, previously started up a 15 MWp solar power plant for IAMGOLD’s Essakane mine in Burkina Faso, in 2017 (pictured).

Nordgold’s Bissa gold mine was launched in January 2013 followed by, in September 2016, the Bouly mine.

The new solar PV plant will also create a number of full-time roles for local employees in addition to over a thousand currently employed at the mine sites, according to the company.

Nikolai Zelenski, Chief Executive Officer of Nordgold, said: “By building this new solar power plant, not only will we improve the efficiency of our mines by creating a more secure power supply at lower cost, but we are also helping to make our Burkina Faso mines far more sustainable, while minimising our carbon footprint.

“We already have in place a number of important environmental initiatives aimed at protecting biodiversity around our mines. The installation of a solar power plant at Bissa and Bouly, Nordgold’s key assets in terms of production, is in line with our strategy of implementing the best environmental standards across our operations”.

Nordgold enlists Cat dealer to fine tune Russia mine fleet performance

Equipment maintenance, Mine operation news, Mining equipment, Mining services, Precious metals, , , , , , , , , ,

Nord Gold and Vostochnaya Technica (VT), a Cat dealer in Russia, have signed a strategic agreement providing the framework for a long-term partnership between the two companies.

The agreement aims to improve the efficiency and sustainability of all of Nordgold’s Russian operations by ensuring the highest levels of availability, productivity and cost effectiveness of its core mining equipment, the gold miner said.

As part of the agreement, VT will provide mining equipment maintenance and spare parts supply, while improving the efficiency of Nordgold’s Cat fleet, which totals 40 units, through new staff training programs and other initiatives.

The agreement includes the continuation of regular site assessments (which will cover fleet availability and maintenance, for example) as well as on-going measurement of dealer performance. The most recent assessment (August 2019), undertaken at the Gross, Taborny and Irokinda mines, showed the strong operational alignment between VT and Nordgold.

Nikolai Zelenski, Chief Executive Officer of Nordgold, said: “This wide-ranging agreement, which covers both technical support, parts supply and training, strengthens an already strong relationship with a major supplier, and will have a long-term positive impact on our Russian operations.

“The agreement challenges our partner with regular assessments to provide best practice levels of support to ensure the sustainable performance of the mining fleet to meet our production plans.”

Gerhard Vorster, General Director of Vostochnaya Technica, said: “World-class best practices of equipment management for maximum return on investment is a goal we share with Nordgold. Vostochnaya Technica will assign the best experts to Nordgold assets and provide maximum support to reach our common goal.”

Some 40 Cat units are currently in operation at Gross, Taborny and Irokinda, including 14 134t 785D haul trucks and 993K wheel loaders. Two more trucks are to be commissioned by the end of 2019, with five more Cat 785Ds to be supplied in 2020.

A VT Project Manager and service technicians are permanently present on site to maximise fleet uptime, according to Nordgold.