Christo Oliver is Principal Electrical Engineer at Anglo American’s Kumba Iron Ore. He is participating in a panel discussion on how mines are looking to secure their power supplies for their operations at the Renewables and Mining Summit & Exhibition on July 1-2 at the Hilton, Johannesburg. Here he discusses the mine’s energy challenges, consumption and goals for reducing diesel reliance.
Q: Can you please describe your top energy challenges and what you are doing to address them?
A: Diesel is our main energy source and consumption increases yearly due to the pits getting bigger and the ore body going deeper therefore there is an increase in waste stripping in order to expose ore. This means we have an ever increasing energy footprint to achieve the same ore production. Secondly diesel fuel costs are very high and a big portion of our operating cost which escalates every year.
We need electricity to beneficiate and load the ore and huge electricity price increases as well as shortage of electricity in South Africa due to Eskom’s situation mean that even if it is a small portion of our energy bill, we need to use it efficiently.
Our focus is to reduce energy consumption against business-as-usual (BAU) as defined by our energy and CO2 management process (ECO2MAN). Our ECO2MAN methodology entails allocation of roles and resources to identify, implement, monitor and track energy efficiency initiatives within the organisation.
We identify and implement projects and actively engage with monitoring and verification professionals for audits. Savings is captured and consolidated in our ECO2MAN reporting system. The ECO2MAN program also helps to set energy and carbon savings targets, improves our understanding of our energy use and the potential for savings.
We have a Diesel Energy Efficiency Management System (DEEMS) as part of ECO2MAN that focuses specifically on the diesel savings initiatives. Mining interventions are tracked and diesel used is modified based on work done to determine if savings were realised. The company Energy and Combustion Services (ECS) is contracted to supply the DEEMS tool and provide M&V for the diesel savings.
Q: Around how much energy do your African mining operations use on an annual basis?
A: Around 10 800 000 Gigajoules of which 75% is fossil fuels and 25% electricity.
Q: What would help you most with your energy challenges – what sort of solutions and information would help address power cost and supply concerns?
A: Low cost energy efficiency solutions. Technology that would significantly help us reduce our diesel consumption.