Modern Mining June 2019

Although there is a great deal of talk in mining circles about the potential of hydro-electric projects to power Africa’s mines, actual ‘on the ground’ installations are few and far between. In fact, as far as Modern Mining is aware, the only mine in Africa to derive a substantial part of its power from dedicated hydropower projects is Kibali in the DRC, which last year commissioned its third and final hydro-electric power station, Azambi, which has a capacity of 10,1 MW. Kibali demonstrates the power twelve 1 500 kVA Cat diesel generators (for a total of 32 MW) with these being supplemented by the three hydropower stations, Nzoro 2, Ambarau and Azambi, which between them have a capacity of 44 MW at peak. The three hydropower stations, which are all located within a 30 km radius of Kibali, significantly reduce the mine’s dependence on expensive imported diesel and also, of course, reduce its carbon ‘footprint’. They are able to supply approximately 80 % of the mine’s power requirement during the rainy season.

K ibali, which is owned by Barrick Gold (45 %), AngloGold Ashanti (45 %) and SOKIMO (10 %) with operation in the hands of Bar- rick, is located in a remote part of the north-eastern DRC, approximately 560 km north-east of Kisangani and 150 km west of the Ugandan border town of Arua. Randgold Resources (now merged with Barrick) was re- sponsible for developing the mine, which pro- duced its first gold in 2013. It is expected to produce 750 000 ounces of gold in 2019 from a combination of surface and underground op- erations, making it probably the biggest single gold producer in Africa and one of the top ten gold mines worldwide. With infrastructure in the north-east of the DRC being poor, Kibali is totally dependent on its own power generation facilities for the supply of electrical power. It is equipped with three thermal power stations that each have

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40  MODERN MINING  June 2019