Modern Mining April 2022

MINING News

SOLA Group and Tronox sign 200 MW of wheeling Power Purchase Agreements

“Tronox’s renewable energy project with SOLA Group will reduce our global carbon emissions by around 13% compared to our 2019 baseline and has the full support of our Board of Directors and senior manage ment,” commented Melissa Zona, Tronox Holding’s senior vice president, external affairs and chief sustainability officer. The project will be majority owned and operated by SOLA Group and will deliver around 540 GWh of energy to five min ing operations through long term power purchase agreements. The developments make use of the government’s recent relaxation of licensing requirements which exempt projects up to 100 MW in size from requiring a generation license. “These types of projects are the fast est way to bring new generation capacity online and not only contribute to closing the electricity supply gap in our country, but also support the much-needed transi tion to clean energy and modernisation of our electricity grid,” said Chris Haw, director at SOLA Group.  to the roaster on 31 March, completing the restart of the entire sulphide processing circuit. The performance of the sulphide plant is now expected to be more consistent and manageable, as measured by the overall plant availability, leading to improved pro duction outcomes. Roaster capacity is also expected to increase which will effectively move the sulphide circuit ‘bottleneck’ from the roaster to the crusher. 

Tronox Holdings, an integrated manufac turer of titanium dioxide pigment, recently entered into a long-term power purchase agreement with the South African inde pendent power producer, SOLA Group, to provide 200 MW of solar power to Tronox’s mines and smelters in South Africa. The

company expects the project to be fully implemented by the fourth quarter of 2023. The energy will be provided to Tronox through wheeling agreements, which allow Eskom to be paid for the maintenance and upkeep of its infrastructure to transport the energy.

SOLA Group and Tronox sign 200 MW of wheeling Power Purchase Agreements.

Economy sheds more than half a million jobs in Q3 of 2021 According to the Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS), the number of employed per sons declined by 660 000 to 14,3 million in the 3 rd quarter of 2021, compared to the 2 nd quarter of 2021. South Africa’s unemployment rate in Q3:2021 increased by 0,5 of a percentage point to 34,9%. This is the highest official unemployment rate recorded since the start of the QLFS in 2008. These results are reflective of a struggling economy suffering high job losses and high levels of economic inactivity, exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown restrictions and, more recently, the July 2021 social unrest experienced in parts of the country , and which led to some businesses being permanently closed. Between the 2 nd and 3 rd quarters of 2021, the number of employed persons decreased in all industries except finance, where employ ment increased by 138 000. The trade industry shed 309 000 jobs, followed by community and social services with 210 000. The formal sector was the most affected by job losses while job gains were recorded in the informal sector (an increase of 9 000). 

Completion of Syama sulphide plant shutdown

ASX-listed gold miner, Resolute has suc cessfully completed the Syama sulphide plant shutdown, which saw upgrades made to crusher liners, transfer chutes, mill cyclone feed pumps, flotation tailings pumps and roaster feed systems as well as the roaster primary cyclone and ESP. The shutdown commenced on 18 February with the comminution circuits fully recom missioned by 20 March 2022, ahead of schedule. First gold concentrate was fed

Resolute’s Syama Plant.

8  MODERN MINING  April 2022