Bellevue Gold has made progress in its ambition to become Australia’s first ASX-listed net-zero gold miner after the commissioning of a renewable energy power station for its Bellevue Gold Project in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia.
The company has signed an Early Works Agreement with Energy Developments (EDL) and locked in long-lead items for its power station ready for the processing plant commissioning in mid-2023.
As well as being the lowest emitter on a per ounce basis, the project is forecast to have the lowest total Scope 1 emissions of any major mine in Australia. This will give the project the cleanest power supply in Australia based on a greenhouse gas per kilowatt hour basis of power generation.
The power station will prioritise the use of renewable energy and will also include a gas engine configuration, which will ensure there is always sufficient power for the mine, even in the rare absence of solar and wind resources.
EDL will supply trucked LNG to the Bellevue Gold Project to maintain optionality for any future technological innovations in thermal generation alternative fuels.
Trucked LNG provides a much cleaner fuel than diesel which was an important consideration to reduce emissions as far as possible.
At a steady-state production rate of 1Mtpa, renewable energy is expected to meet up to 80 per cent of the Project’s annual electricity needs, taking advantage of the region’s strong solar and wind resources.
Bellevue has been modelling the wind speeds and direction with a SODAR unit, which has allowed for the integration of wind turbines to increase the renewable energy penetration rate.
Maximising renewable energy uptake has been a key design consideration for the processing facility.
The facility will have the ability to use more power – such as crushing and heating – when increased renewable energy is available, reducing thermal requirements.
The planned infrastructure includes an oversized crushing circuit to facilitate a processing rate of more than 1.5Mtpa (against current throughput rate of 1Mtpa), allowing the operational flexibility in this area for an optimised match up of the renewable energy demand to the renewable energy resource.
The designed infrastructure will allow Bellevue to have a cost-effective renewable energy supply and optimise the power demand curve to better align with key daytime (solar) and night-time (wind) energy peaks and troughs.
Through the generation of power from renewable energy sources, it will create the optionality for the crushing circuit to maximise crushing in peak renewable energy generation periods.
This will have the potential to offset more than 1MW in demand on thermal power generation and lead to a direct cost saving and emissions reduction.
Bellevue Managing Director, Steve Parsons, said EDL had a highly successful track record of designing and implementing hybrid power station microgrids across Australia.
“EDL is a leader in hybrid off-grid power stations,” Mr Parsons said.
“Their skills and experience will help ensure we maximise the use of renewable energy at the Bellevue Gold Project.”
“Bellevue is forecasted to be a 200,000oz a year gold miner with low all-in sustaining costs of $1,000- $1,100/oz powered by ~80 per cent renewable energy, with a pathway to net zero emissions as a world-leading company in the race to decarbonise the mining sector.
“Our pre-production carbon mitigation strategy has been strategic and is world leading. It achieves the ‘holy grail’ of lower emissions and a direct cost reduction in power generation.
“The combination of these metrics is expected to position Bellevue as one of the most sustainable and financially successful Australian gold miners, maximising returns for all stakeholders.
“It will also underpin the Company’s strong appeal to global investors, who demand performance on both financial and ESG measures.”
