S11 ATR July 2022 Construction Solutions_ATR - New Master Template 2016 29/06/2022 15:13 Page 44
MINING | POWER
Sustaining power for mines vanhoe Mines recently announced that the KamoaKakula Mining Complex in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has set a new quarterly production record in the first quarter of 2022, with 55,602 tonnes of copper in concentrate produced. Kamoa Copper milled 1.08mn ore tonnes during the period at an average feedgrade of 5.91% copper. In this time, Kamoa-Kakula set a new daily production record with 25,126 tonnes milled and 1,202 tonnes of copper produced. Management now expects that the early commissioning of the Phase 2 concentrator plant will enable Kamoa Copper to reach the upper end of its 2022 copper production guidance of 290,000 to 340,000 tonnes. Such impressive figures are attainable on the backdrop of reliable, sustainable power supplies to the mines, ensuring that their heavy machinery, equipment and plants are running smoothly. Because of the huge amount of work required to produce metals, mining is one of the most energyintensive industries in the world, and accounts for about 5% of global electricity consumption. “The sheer magnitude of the work done is staggering. For example, Konkola Copper Mines’ Konkola Deep mine on the Zambian Copperbelt runs electrically driven underground pump stations that pump 450mn litres of water to the surface every day – enough to fill 180 Olympic-size swimming pools,” the Zambia Chamber of Mine states. Also pushing the consumption of electricity in the mines is a move away from diesel-powered machinery to electrically powered ones, which are more efficient and more environmentally friendly.
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Nawa Mutumeno explores how countries and companies are meeting the mining industry’s voracious demand for energy.
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Mining is one of the most energyintensive industries in the world.
First Quantum Minerals high-tech US$2.1bn Sentinel Mine in Zambia, uses the world’s large rope-shovels which lift up to 120 tonnes of ore in a single scoop. This electrically powered machine is manufactured by mining-equipment supplier Caterpillar, and is one of three. The rope shovel’s average power requirements is 11,000 kW – by comparison, the power demand of an average household oven is 2.4 kV. Just one of these giant machinery consumes twice as much electricity in the course of a single day as the average home in the US consumes in an entire year. “When considered as a portfolio that includes diesel, heavy fuel oil, grid electricity, gas, LNG and other sources, energy can represent up to 30% of a mining company’s total operating costs,” according to professional service firm Deloitte in its 2016 ‘Tracking the Trends’ report. Factors such as size, design, the grade of copper ore and technological sophistication dictate a mine’s power consumption. These affect how much work – and hence, energy – goes into producing. Geology matters too: underground mines on the Copperbelt such as Mopani and KCM, have to pump hundreds of millions of litres of water to the
AFRICAN REVIEW OF BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY | JULY 2022
surface every day. Keeping the electrically driven pump station running around the clock is the single largest element of their electricity bill.
An industry issue? In some countries, the industry typically represents a significant – and sometimes the largest – slice of national energy consumption. In Chile, the largest copper producer, mining accounts for more than 20% of total power consumption; in South Africa, the proportion is about 15%; in Australia, it is 9%; while in Zambia, it is more than 50% – reflecting the country’s small installed energy base compared to that of more developed economies. In countries like Zambia, it is easy to conclude that there could be fewer power outages if it was not for the mining industry’s power consumption. However, this is well within global norms, suggesting the problem lays more within insufficient power supply. “Zambia’s mines cannot be any less energy-intensive than they already are, and are already running around 70% of their operating power requirements. Reducing power to the mines means reducing production, which negatively impacts employment, export
earnings, government tax revenue and economic growth,” the Chamber states.
Power on site Access to reliable electricity is so important to mining companies that some of them have had to invest in their own power source. Swiss-based Glencore, which ran Mopani until recently, has invested US$368mn into a 450MW hydroelectric plant in the DRC, where power availability is a critical problem. The decision to build a power plant is factored into the original investment plan, and can easily double the project cost. In the DRC, the rich grade of copper – among the highest in the world – make the huge additional upfront power cost worth the investment. Zambia’s mines have never had to embark on building their own power stations, because the country already had an abundant source of competitively priced electricity at the time of privatisation in the late 1990s. Further, the country’s copper mining industry is now experiencing declining grades of copper – usually at around 0.5%. Thus, independent power investment in the future is unrealistic. The mines power investments to date have been mainly to supplement the existing infrastructure, e.g. by building transmission lines to connect new mines to the grid. FQM has built 600 km of powerlines at a cost of about US$100mn, to bring power from the national grid to Sentinel Mine, in Kalumbila. No matter how it is attained, sustained power supply is an essential stepping stone to the development of mines and will utlimately contribute to national development. ■
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