CHAMWE KAIRA
B2Gold Namibia is expecting to increase its consumption of renewable energy at its Otjikoto Mine to 30% to 35% when a 10MW renewable power plant is completed in December this year. The plant is being constructed by Sustainable Power Solutions, an Independent Power Producer and in turn B2Gold will buy all the power from the plant. The plant will cost N$200 million.
B2Gold Namibia, Country Manager, John Roos said in an interview that the current solar capacity on the mine is a 6.8MW DC plant that delivers about 5.8MW AC to its power plant that contributes to about 13% of the total power requirement on the mine.
Roos said the 10MW project will be commissioned from January next year and B2Gold will be procuring all the energy that the plant will generate for the next eight years.
He explained that the aim of increasing renewable energy consumption is twofold, first is reducing the mine’s costs, projecting the mine against inflationary pressure, specifically inflationary increases from NamPower. The second aim is that B2Gold as a group has set a goal to reduce its greenhouse emissions reduction by 30% by 2030. Roos said the mine draws about 14 to 15 MW from NamPower on a constant basis.
Asked if the mine has plans to scale up renewable energy consumption, Roos said that would be dependent on the Electricity Control Board increasing the minimum cap that currently stands at 30% on power that can be sourced through the modified single buyer model. He said a possibility exists for the mine to increase renewable energy consumption from other producers including green hydrogen projects that are being established in the south of the country.
Elsewhere, B2Gold has established an 18 MW solar farm in Mali and the capacity is now being doubled up to 36MW, making it one of the largest solar plants for mining in Africa. Roos said in Canada, the company is looking at opportunities in wind energy. The renewable power solutions are also being sought in the Philippines.
The Otjikoto mine is expected to produce between 180,000 and 200,000 ounces of gold in 2024 at cash operating costs of between US$685 and US$745 per ounce and all-in sustaining costs of between US$960 and US$1,020 per ounce, according to B2Gold. For 2024, Otjikoto is expected to process a total of 3.4 million tonnes of ore at an average grade of 1.77 g/t with a process gold recovery of 98.0%. Processed ore will be sourced from the Otjikoto pit and the Wolfshag underground mine, supplemented by existing medium and high-grade ore stockpiles.
B2Gold is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada and operates gold mines in Mali, Namibia, the Philippines and Canada.
