RESOURCE Volume 5, Issue 4
GLOBAL NETWORK
Mining, renewable energy and oil & gas worldwide
NUCLEAR &
RENEWABLES THE FUTURE OF GLOBAL ENERGY SUPPLY
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WELCOME
The world’s energy supply is about to undergo a large-scale transformation in the coming decades, after 195 UN nations agreed to limit the increase in global average temperature to below 2 °C above pre-industrial levels in the landmark 2015 Paris Agreement.
Editor Jacob Ambrose Willson
In the wake of the accord, many government’s have begun the process of diversifying energy supplies away from polluting sources such as oil & gas and coal, with decarbonisation seen as key to preventing irreversible climate change.
Content Director (APAC and Americas) David Hunter
Thus, with the Paris agreement serving an eventual death sentence to carbon-based energy sources (assuming all states remain fully committed to the cause), this issue explores the extent to which renewable energy and nuclear power can step into the void and effectively supply reliable, low-carbon energy to an increasingly powerhungry global population. On the nuclear energy side, RGN explores the supply and demand dynamics in the uranium mining sector and features three miners – GoviEx Uranium, NexGen Energy and Blue Sky Uranium – who are each advancing large-scale uranium mines that will support increasing demand for the resource used to power nuclear reactors. We spotlight a diverse range of renewable energy outfits, starting with the company that delivered Gemini Wind Park – a mega offshore project in the Netherlands. juwi Renewable Energies has plans to provide hybrid energy solutions across sub-Saharan Africa, while ClearVue PV promises to revolutionise architecture with its solarintegrated glass product. You can also read a range of fascinating guest columns, including esteemed academic Jessica Varnum’s balanced discussion on the carbon footprint attached to nuclear energy, along with a mini-focus on three battery metals mining companies – Barra Resources, Black Rock Mining and Prospect Resources. We hope you enjoy this issue and encourage you to connect with us on email, Facebook and Twitter. Thanks for reading!
Jacob Ambrose Willson, Editor
Jacob Ambrose Willson
Executive Team
Content Manager Michelle Madureira
Creative Director Hugo Currie ICT Director Stuart Clark Contributors Jessica Varnum Tim Buckley Peter Brun
Managing Director Simon Curran
RGN is published by Anderson Murray Media: a diverse media and information services company focused on creating and distributing engaging content to business leaders across the globe. Anderson Murray Media Fulham Green, 69-79 Fulham High Street, Main Reception, Bedford House, London SW6 3JW Tel. +44 (0)207 148 5630
VISIT US ONLINE AT WWW.RESOURCEGLOBALNETWORK.COM
CONTENTS
GOVIEX
NEWS 10 Global resources news Our selection of mining, oil & gas and renewable energy stories from the last month
COLUMNS 18 Jessica Varnum Esteemed academic presents stimulating debate on the environmental pros and cons of nuclear energy 28 Tim Buckley Australia and India: Two national case studies in electricity sector transformation 34 Peter Brun What renewables can learn from oil & gas
NUCLEAR & RENEWABLES FOCUS 44 GoviEx Uranium A growing Africa-focused uranium company 58 NexGen Energy Advancing a major asset in the world’s best uranium deposit 72 Blue Sky Uranium Leading uranium discovery in Argentina
NEXGEN
BLUE SKY
CONTENTS
GEMINI WIND PARK 86 Gemini Wind Park A watershed project for the Dutch offshore wind industry 100 juwi Renewable Energies A new focus on hybrid energy solutions across sub-Saharan Africa 114 ClearVue PV The future of sustainable architecture is here
MINING 126 Barra Resources Targeting two high demand commodities in Western Australia 138 Black Rock Mining Back on track at the Mahenge Graphite Project in Tanzania 154 CPC Engineering World-leading expertise in graphite processing 162 Prospect Resources Advancing the 2nd largest JORC compliant hard rock lithium resource in Africa
CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING 172 Classifieds
APPOINTMENTS & EVENTS 174 Appointments Notable appointments in the resources industry from the past month 175 Events Our pick of the top mining, oil & gas and renewable energy events happening around the world in the months to come
BARRA RESOURCES
BLACK ROCK MINING
PROSPECT RESOURCES
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10
NEWS | Brookfield Multiplex MINING
GLOBAL RESO
Our selection of mi renewable energy news
Resource Global Network 11
OURCES NEWS
ining, oil & gas and s from around the world
12
NEWS
UK TARGETS MINI ATOMIC PLANTS TO REVIVE NUCLEAR ENERGY SECTOR The UK will commit up to £56 million towards research and development into small-scale atomic power plants as part of a wider £200 million injection to the country’s nuclear energy sector. The government and the nuclear industry will unveil the initiative in a ‘sector deal’ that aims to help the industry remain price competitive with other sources of energy such as renewables, which have experienced rapid cost declines in recent years. Under the terms of the deal, the UK will provide £56 million towards R&D in small atomic plants called advanced modular reactors (AMRs) which use new cooling systems or fuels.
Advocates of AMRs maintain that the small scale and modular design of these plants should make them less expensive than traditional large reactors, like those being built at Hinkley Point power station in the UK. Business secretary Greg Clark said: “[The sector deal marks] an important moment for the government and industry to work collectively to deliver the modern industrial strategy, drive clean growth and ensure civil nuclear remains an important part of the UK’s energy future.” The deal comes as a timely boost to the UK’s nuclear energy industry as it vies with the increasingly cost competitive solar and wind power sectors.
Resource Global Network 13
CHINA’S NATIONAL NUCLEAR AGENCY IN TALKS TO BUILD $1 BILLION REACTOR IN JORDAN China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) is in ‘serious talks’ with the Jordan Atomic Energy Comission (JAEC) to build a US$1 billion nuclear reactor in Jordan. JAEC’s chairman Khaled Toukan revealed the news before adding that a formal agreement for the 220MW helium gas-cooled reactor will be signed next year, with the project set to be completed in 2025. “We are in advanced and serious talks with CNNC regarding this advanced and inherently safe reactor,” Touran told The Jordan Times. “This reactor is very efficient for electric power
generation and can be used for water desalination, to process heat and can serve chemical industries as well as oil refineries,” he added. Jordan is reliant on oil and gas imports from neighboring Middle Eastern nations for 95% of its electricity demand, but is actively looking to diversify its energy mix away from imported hydrocarbons. CNNC is the only organisation implementing nuclear expertise globally, having already exported reactors to seven other countries. It is currently holding talks with 40 other nations regarding delivery of programmes, including companies in the UK, US, Russia and South Korea.
14
NEWS
RENEWABLE ENERGY ELECTRICITY GENERATION CLOSING IN ON NUCLEAR POWER IN US Electricity generation coming from sources of renewable energy in the US came close to matching the input of nuclear power into the US grid last year, according to a Bloomberg New Energy Finance report. In 2017, renewables contributed to 18% of electrical generation in the US while nuclear power provided a marginally higher 19.6% of the total power in the grid. These contributions were surpassed only by coal and natural gas plants, although both sources experienced dips of 3% and 2% respectively on the previous year. “In 2017 it’s a very significant story that renewables are making a lot of headway in pushing forward the decarbonisation of the
power sector, even as the natural gas share decreases,” said Rachel Luo, senior analyst for US utilities and market reform at BNEF. “Natural gas still remains the largest single contributor to the electricity mix. [Its] downtick could be from a variety of factors [such as] the increasing penetration of renewables.” The report comes in the same week that President Donald Trump proposed budget cuts of over 65% for a research office on renewable energy and efficiency. Trump’s latest assault on the renewables sector comes after he approved a steep tariff on imported solar components in January.
Resource Global Network 15
BHP ADDS EXTRA WAVE TO WA’S RESURGENT MINING SECTOR WITH $2.9 BILLION IRON ORE MINE BHP has approved plans to build a US$2.9 billion iron ore project in Western Australia’s Pilbara region, in a move which will add to a growing construction boom in the state. The South Flank iron ore project will replace a depleting mine in the region rather than adding new supply, said the world’s largest mining company in a statement. South Flank could produce as much as 80 million tonnes of iron ore a year and will also help increase BHP’s overall iron ore grade to 62%.
The large-scale project will create about 2,500 jobs during construction and a further 600 ongoing operational roles when it reaches production in 2021. WA’s Treasurer Ben Wyatt welcomed the BHP project, labelling it a vote of confidence in the state’s long-term economy. “It highlights the fallacy some people have around the idea that the mining sector simply goes bust — it doesn’t, it changes, it morphs into a new phase and this is a new phase for BHP and an exciting time for the WA economy,” he said.
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COLUMNS | Jessica Varnum
NUCLEAR POWER: ENVIRONME
Esteemed academic Jessica C. Varnum presents
Resource Global Network
ENTAL PANACEA OR POISON PILL?
s stimulating debate on the environmental pros and cons of nuclear energy
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COLUMNS||Ian Jessica Thomson Varnum 20 COLUMNS
Preventing further irreversible climate change requires major shifts in the way the world generates electricity, which is currently the source of 41% of global energy-related carbon dioxide emissions.1 Nuclear energy, supplied by roughly 450 nuclear power reactors in 30 different countries, currently meets approximately 11% of global electricity demand—while more than 60% is produced by emissions-intensive coal and natural gas.2 While proponents of nuclear energy frequently tout it as a green energy technology, even staunch industry allies such as the World Nuclear Association acknowledge nuclear to be a “low-carbon” rather than a “carbon-free” power source, taking into account carbon production at the front and back ends of the fuel cycle.3 Surely “low-carbon” power sources such as nuclear beat intensive carbon polluters such as fossil fuels in the race to decrease global emissions, especially in scenarios where renewables cannot get the job done alone? The answer, as with all complex problems, is highly conditional. As the early 20th century writer H.L. Mencken wisely opined, “[…] there is always a well-known solution to every human problem—neat, plausible, and wrong.”4 As such, it is advisable to consider both sides of the debate.
ResourceGlobal GlobalNetwork Network 21 Resource
JESSICA C. VARNUM
Jessica C. Varnum is a Senior Research Associate and Project Manager at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS), and an adjunct professor at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey. Varnum manages all of CNS’s work for the Nuclear Threat Initiative website, including extensive research databases on nuclear, chemical and biological weapons and their delivery systems, educational resources, country profiles, and issue briefs. In addition to regional expertise on NATO and particularly Turkey, Varnum is an expert on nuclear energy, and teaches an advanced MA seminar on the nonproliferation and nuclear security challenges of civil nuclear technologies.
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COLUMNS | Jessica Varnum
ResourceGlobal GlobalNetwork Network 23 Resource Argument: Nuclear energy could play
million tonnes of carbon emissions into the
a vital role in global carbon emissions
atmosphere each year.”7
reductions Nuclear power is a low-carbon energy source; Countries seeking to phase out nuclear
operating reactors do not produce greenhouse
power should recognise the likely negative
gases.
implications—both environmental and
While significant emissions occur as a result
otherwise—of primarily political decisions to
of front and back-end fuel cycle activities,
shutter existing nuclear power plants.
the World Nuclear Association analysis
Existing nuclear power plants provide
concluded, “lifecycle emissions from all the
reliable base-load power, and their continued
major forms of renewables (solar, wind,
use, within safe service lifetimes, is often
biomass, hydroelectric) and nuclear were
practically and environmentally sound.
similar.”8
This is especially true because the poorly
Other studies broadly concur with this
planned shuttering of nuclear power plants
finding, though many note that as renewable
usually results in their replacement with high
technologies such as solar further mature,
emissions generation sources such as coal
their lifecycle emissions are likely to decline
and natural gas.5
below those produced by nuclear.9
Both Japan and Germany moved to shut
Renewables cannot accomplish
down their extensive nuclear power
decarbonisation of electricity fast
programmes rapidly in the wake of
enough because of electricity storage and
Fukushima, because of public panic rather
transmission limitations. Intermittent energy
than a deliberative assessment of the plants’
sources cannot fully replace base-load
continued ability to operate safely.
sources like nuclear until significant (longterm) technological advances in storage and
The emissions results have been catastrophic
transmissions are made.
in both cases, with Germany recently announcing that it is no longer in a position
These same technological limitations are
to meet its 2020 climate targets.6
one significant reason Japan, Germany and Spain could not replace the base-load power
Spain is one of several other countries that
provided by their shuttered nuclear reactors
appear to be headed in a similar direction.
with renewables.10 MIT climate scientist Kerry
In the wake of the politically motivated
Emanuel estimates renewables can only
2017 closure of the Santa Maria de Garoña
make up 30-50% of “current power needs in
plant, an open letter from climate scientists
most countries.”11
asserted that “The fossil fuels used to replace the plant’s power will put about 2
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COLUMNS | Jessica Varnum
For these reasons, the expansion (or new
Decisions to commission new nuclear plants
adoption) of nuclear power may be warranted
or extend plant’s lifetimes should be based on
in some countries, if a precise set of criteria
rigorous assessments of their continued ability
are adequately addressed (especially on
to operate safely—and an understanding that
the environmental, safety, and security
some catastrophic accidents are still probable.
fronts). To mitigate risks, nuclear newcomers
Poor regulatory and safety cultures (e.g., in
should work with the International Atomic
the case of Japan’s Fukushima disaster), make
Energy Agency to establish appropriate best
catastrophic nuclear accidents more likely
practices, and purchase light water reactors
than past statistical assessments suggested.
and fuel services from nuclear supplier states.
After Fukushima, a study by the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Mainz calculated
Counterargument: Other risks could
that the risk of core meltdown accidents is
outweigh nuclear energy’s emission
significantly higher than estimated by the
reduction benefits
Nuclear Regulatory Commission in 1990, and that “[…] with 440 civilian reactors worldwide
Resource Global Network
a major accident can be expected to occur
alone. Although greenhouse gas emissions
about once every few decades.�12
may be the “closest alligator to the boat� in terms of irreversible climate consequences,
Because the probability of core meltdown
nuclear energy carries other negative
is based on the number of reactors in
environmental risks and consequences.
operation, more reactors will mean the probability of more frequent catastrophic
Uranium mining and milling are incredibly
nuclear accidents. While more can and
polluting to air, soil and water, with significant
should be done to improve overall global
legacy health effects for surrounding
reactor safety, significant risks will still exist,
communities.13 Operating reactors release
especially following major earthquakes or
waste heat into surrounding waters,
other natural disasters.
damaging local marine habitats.
The environmental case for or against nuclear
Nuclear power plants create nuclear waste
power (and all other energy sources), should
that remains hazardous for thousands of
not be made on relative carbon emissions
years, requiring safe and secure permanent
25
26
COLUMNS | Jessica Varnum disposal—more than 270,000 metric tonnes
It may be too late for nuclear power to play
of commercial reactor spent fuel is in interim
a major role in decarbonisation. The most
storage worldwide.14
powerful environmental argument against nuclear power may simply be that plants
Decades into commercial nuclear power
cannot be built fast (and safely and securely)
operations, no country has opened even a
enough to make a positive climate change
single permanent nuclear waste repository.
difference. New nuclear may therefore
Most commercial nuclear waste remains at
involve a dangerous diversion of resources
nuclear power plants, at sites never intended
away from the renewable technologies
to safely and securely store nuclear waste
necessary for rapid decarbonisation.
beyond a few years. A prominent Princeton study found that, Any possible environmental benefits of a
“for a State with little developed technical
closed nuclear fuel cycle (which involves
base the implementation of the first [nuclear
unproven technology), would be negated by
power plant] would, on average, take about
the runaway global proliferation of nuclear
15 years.”16
weapons. Nuclear power is not a renewable form of energy, and because nuclear
In reality, most nuclear newcomers take
materials such as uranium ore are finite,
far longer to commission their first nuclear
their extraction will become more expensive
power plants, and many quit before they
with scarcity. The most environmentally
get there because of cost overruns, public
sustainable plan for nuclear power would
opposition, and other challenges.
involve plutonium recycling. Nuclear power is neither an environmental Despite decades of major investments,
panacea nor a poison pill. While it has always
breeder reactor programmes in countries
held great potential in decarbonisation
like France have proven notoriously unsafe
efforts, it is an increasingly frozen technology
and uneconomical.15 More importantly, the
being rapidly overtaken by renewables.
spread of any form of nuclear power carries significant nuclear weapons proliferation
An (ambitious) best-case scenario might be
risks.
for nuclear energy to continue to meet 11% of global electricity demand, preventing
While the proliferation risks of the spread
roughly 2.5 billion tonnes of new carbon
of (standard) light water reactor technology
dioxide emissions per year.17
are somewhat manageable under IAEA safeguards, the creation of a global
This will require power reactor operating
plutonium economy would signal the doom
countries to maintain their nuclear capacity
of the non-proliferation regime.
(rather than phasing out nuclear), and/or for
Resource Global Network countries like China and India to continue to expand their new nuclear capacity to make up for phase-outs in countries like Germany. The steady best-case scenario for nuclear power is ambitious because the vast majority of the 450 power reactors in operation today are decades into their operational lifetimes, with most needing to be replaced before the mid-century mark.18 A steady nuclear scenario is not without serious environmental (and security) risks, but in addition to being far more practicable than runaway nuclear power growth, it would contribute meaningfully to decarbonisation by enabling other renewables to enter the market as replacements for high-carbon
1. Cited from, “Quote Investigator,” July 17, 2016, Accessed May 1, 2018, https://quoteinvestigator.com/2016/07/17/solution/. 2. Derek Mead, “To Replace Nuclear Power, Japan is Spending Billions on Gas and Coal: What About Renewables, You Ask?” October 18, 2013, Motherboard (Vice News), https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/qkvddb/to-replacenuclear-power-japan-is-spending-billions-on-gas-and-coal, October 18, 2013. 3. Akshat Rathi, “If Germany Can’t Hit its Own Climate Goals to Help the World, Can Anybody Else?” Quartz, 10 January 2018, https://qz.com/1175308/ germany-is-abandoning-its-climate-goals-for-2020-what-happens-next/. 4. James Hansen et al., “Letter to Spanish Leaders,” Environmental Progress, 20 June 2018, http://environmentalprogress.org/letter-to-spanish-leaders. 5. “Greenhouse gas emissions avoided through use of nuclear energy,” World Nuclear Association, Accessed 1 May 2018, http://www.world-nuclear.org/ nuclear-basics/greenhouse-gas-emissions-avoided.aspx. 6. See for example, Vasilis M. Fthenakis and Hyung Chul Kim, “Greenhouse-gas emissions from solar electric- and nuclear power: A life-cycle study,” Energy Policy, Vol. 25, No. 4, April 2007, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/ article/pii/S0301421506002758. 7. Derek Mead, “To Replace…” 8. Dawn Stover, “Kerry Emanuel: A climate scientist for nuclear energy,” Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, 73:1, 2017 p. 8, https://thebulletin.org/2017/ january/kerry-emanuel-climate-scientist-nuclear-energy10375. 9. J. Lelieveld, D. Kunkel, and M. G. Lawrence, “Global risk of radioactive fallout after major nuclear reactor accidents,” Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, Volume 12, 2012, p. 4249, https://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/12/4245/2012/ acp-12-4245-2012.pdf. 10. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0169136816306862
energy sources rather than for nuclear.
11. “Developing Spent Fuel Strategies,” Nuclear Threat Initiative, Accessed 30 April 2018, http://www.nti.org/about/projects/developing-spent-fuelstrategies/.
Arguably, the worst-case environmental
12. See for example: Thomas B. Cochran, Harold A. Feiveson, Walt Patterson, Gennadi Pshakin, M.V. Ramana, Mycle Schneider, Tatsujiro Suzuki, Frank von Hippel, Fast Breeder Reactor Programs: History and Status, IPFM Research Report #8, February 2010, http://fissilematerials.org/library/rr08.pdf.
scenario—because of its lack of feasibility in the short term—would be if renewables had to bear the full burden of replacing both high-carbon power sources and the world’s ageing and politically unpopular fleet of nuclear power plants. The Japanese case should serve as cautionary tale in this regard — where high greenhouse gas emitters are replacing nuclear power — but Japan’s Fukushima is also a cautionary tale about the other environmental risks of
13. Robert H. Socolow & Alexander Glaser, “Balancing Risks: Nuclear Energy & Climate Change,” Dædalus, Fall 2009, https://www.princeton. edu/~aglaser/2009aglaser_daedalus.pdf, p. 5. 14. This assumes, as is most probable, that most shuttered nuclear power plants would be replaced (at least in the short-term) by coal or natural gas plants. Statistic by Kenneth N. Luongo, President and Founder of the Partnership for Global Security, in, John Mecklin, “The Experts on Nuclear Power and Climate Change,” 21 January 2016, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, https://thebulletin.org/experts-nuclear-power-and-climate-change8996. 15. See, Charles D. Ferguson, Nuclear Energy: What Everyone Needs to Know, 2011, (New York, Oxford University Press), p. 97. 16. Robert H. Socolow & Alexander Glaser, “Balancing Risks: Nuclear Energy & Climate Change,” Dædalus, Fall 2009, https://www.princeton.edu/~aglaser/2009aglaser_ daedalus.pdf, p. 5. 17. This assumes, as is most probable, that most shuttered nuclear power plants would be replaced (at least in the short-term) by coal or natural gas plants. Statistic by Kenneth N. Luongo, President and Founder of the Partnership for Global Security, in, John Mecklin, “The Experts on Nuclear Power and Climate Change,” 21 January 2016, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, https://thebulletin.org/experts-nuclear-power-and-climatechange8996. 18. See, Charles D. Ferguson, Nuclear Energy: What Everyone Needs to Know, 2011, (New York, Oxford University Press), p. 97.
excessive reliance on nuclear power.
a
27
28
COLUMNS | Tim Buckley
THE ACCELERATING TRANSI
Austra
Resource Global Network
ITION TO LOW EMISSIONS ENERGY
alia and India: Two national case studies in electricity sector transformation Tim Buckley, director of energy finance studies, Australasia at IEEFA
29
COLUMNS||Ian Tim Thomson Buckley 30 COLUMNS
June 2018 saw what until now has been a relatively unique event – negative wholesale electricity prices mid-week in Queensland. On the 19th June 1.3GW of solar contributed a record 20% of Queensland electricity generation at noon. While 90% of this was rooftop solar, a range of utility scale project developments means that within the next twelve months total solar installs in Queensland will more than double, and this relatively obscure event of negative power prices will become commonplace. Therein lies the magnitude, speed and disruption of the electricity market transformation currently underway. This example also highlights the critical need and enormous opportunity for electricity storage, both battery and pumped hydro storage: to be paid to take “baseload” power only to sell it six hours later at peak evening prices – repeatedly almost daily. Again, where the 100MW / 129 MWh Tesla lithium ion battery in South Australia – the Hornsday Power Reserve - was unique and world record setting in both scale and speed of install, within twelve months a range of similar, increasingly renewable energy powered facilities will be operational worldwide from California and South Korea to Netherlands and Victoria.
ResourceGlobal GlobalNetwork Network 31 Resource
TIM BUCKLEY Tim has 25 years financial markets experience, covering Australia, Asian and global equities. Tim provides financial analysis in the electricity sector for the Institute of Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA), studying energy efficiency and renewables across China and India, and stranded asset risk in Australia. Tim has published numerous financial papers, including “Indian Electricity Sector Transformation” in November 2017. Tim was co-founder of Arkx Investment Management, a global listed clean energy equities fund (2009-2013) that invested in the opportunities of energy market transitions. Westpac was a cornerstone investor. From 1998 to 2007 Tim was Managing Director at Citigroup and Head of Australasian Equity Research from 2001.
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COLUMNS | Tim Buckley
“India plans a fivefold expansion in renewable energy capacity to 275GW by 2027, with renewables set to represent 44% of the forecast 619GW of total capacity” – Tim Buckley, IEEFA
It is fascinating to watch the power struggle
When IEEFA wrote about the coming
between the coal industry and the renewable
electricity sector transformation in India back
energy sector in Australia. On one side
in 2015, we released our financial energy
the powerful incumbent industry out to
model examining an ambitious investment
protect its turf at all costs, hoping to keep
programme and radical transformation
externalising most of its operating costs onto
potential. But when India released its
the community in the process.
National Electricity Plan of 2018, the ambition left our forecasts for dead, we were nowhere
On the other side is a business that once
near ambitious enough.
operational has a zero-marginal cost of production. Life isn’t fair, and this fight is so
India plans a fivefold expansion in renewable
one-sided it could be laughable – except it is
energy capacity to 275GW by 2027.
real in Australia. Our ex-prime minister was
Renewables represent 44% of the forecast
wondering around parliament in June 2018
619GW of total capacity. By comparison, coal-
holding up a sign ‘coal isn’t dead yet’.
fired power capacity is forecast at 238GW by 2027, 39% of the total.
Yet Australia is no more than a side game compared to the developments
Coal’s share of capacity declines from 59%
in India. Under the leadership of Prime
in 2017 – a market share loss of 20% in a
Minister Narendra Modi since 2014, India
decade or 2% annually - unprecedented. Yet
has fully embraced this electricity sector
one could be mistaken for doubting India’s
transformation.
ability to deliver, previous plans have come unstuck, repeatedly.
ResourceGlobal GlobalNetwork Network 33 Resource But this time IEEFA thinks it is different. In
economic growth target of 7-8% annually,
2017 the price of wind dropped by 50% year-
India is the fastest growing large economy in
on-year to a record low US$37/MWh. And
the world.
solar declined over the previous two years again by a staggering 50% to just US$38/
In May 2018, India announced a 10GW solar
MWh.
reverse auction tender. This is double the largest renewable energy tender in the world,
Against this, the average thermal power tariff
held in Spain in 2017. It is also five times
is US$45-55/MWh, or US$70/MWh if using
larger than the largest renewable energy
imported coal. On the back of this relative
tender held in India to-date.
price cross-over, Indian solar installs in 2017/18 doubled to 10GW.
But in June, India’s Energy Minister R.K.Singh beat this by announcing a plan to hold a
Global and domestic capital pivoted into
single 100GW solar tender. To put this in
Indian renewables, with total renewable
context, that single tender would be double
installs reaching a record 15GW, more than
the capacity of the entire Australian electricity
triple the net thermal power installs of just
sector.
4GW (which fell by 80% relative to the fouryear average of 2013-2016).
Fanciful the fossil fuel industry might claim. But the response of six of India’s largest
To put India in perspective, a few facts. India
renewable companies - led by Adani and
is the second largest producer, consumer
Tata Power - was to write to the Power
and importer of thermal coal globally (behind
Minister complaining about giving an unfair
China). Coal India Ltd is the largest coal
advantage to global giants – too much
mining company in the world, producing
foreign investment will flow into the Indian
50% more coal by volume than the #2, China
renewable sector, electricity prices will fall
Shenhua.
too fast and domestic firms will miss out!
India will overtake China in the next few
One might say that is rather a nice problem
years to be the most populous country in
for Mr Modi – too much zero emissions, zero
the world, with almost 1.4 billion people.
pollution, 100% sustainable, cheap domestic
And maybe most surprising, India is already
power generation. Indian energy poverty?
the third largest electricity market in the
Consigned to history. Not a bad 2019 re-
world, behind only America and China,
election platform!
having overtaken Japan in 2013. And with an
a j
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COLUMNS | Peter Brun
THE MULTIDISCIPL THE SUCCESS OF
Resource Global Network
LINARY APPROACH DETERMINING F THE OFFSHORE WIND INDUSTRY What renewables can learn from oil & gas Peter C. Brun, Global Offshore Wind Segment Leader, DNV GL
35
COLUMNS||Ian Peter Thomson Brun 36 COLUMNS
Offshore wind has developed remarkably over the last 10 years from less than 1GW installed capacity in 2006 to more than 19 GW in 2017. The technology for offshore wind has also developed rapidly coming from a 2MW platform in the early commercial wind farms back in 2002 to the very latest turbines of 9.5MW, which have just been fully certified for commercial offering. This development also means a significant expansion of size in the rotor diameters of turbines from 80 metres to more than 164 metres today, set to increase further to an amazing 220 metres in diameter. This rapid technological development of offshore wind turbines in recent years – exemplified by the deployment of commercial wind turbines over 8MW during the last two to three years – has had an enormous effect on the industry, increasing the operational efficiency and therefore lowering the cost of wind power. Coupled with this technology development the industry has also seen advances in more lean manufacturing processes, global sourcing of components and thus economics of scale and industrialisation in the wind industry. The positive effects of all this has been a rapid learning curve development and aggressive cost-out, leading to significantly lower costs of energy for wind power. Today, onshore wind generation is regarded as the
ResourceGlobal GlobalNetwork Network 37 Resource
PETER BRUN
Peter Brun brings more than 26 years of experience in the wind energy industry and international diplomacy. His rich and varied expertise in the wind industry, includes holding dual vice chairman roles at EWEA (now WindEurope) and Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) between 2009 to 2013. He was also Chairman of the Danish Wind Energy Association from 2007 to 2011. In addition to his work for wind associations, Peter has held many roles in private companies, including senior vice president, within Vestas for over seven years, where he worked on the development of wind power together with a broad range of stakeholders worldwide. His collaborative approach within these roles and his regulatory & investment risk management experience, has helped to raise the profile of wind energy, (including offshore wind) and lead the discussion on how engineering and costs challenges can be overcome to realise the benefits of this clean technology.
38
COLUMNS | Peter Brun
“In 2018, commercial projects of more than 5,700MW in Taiwan and almost 1,900MW on the East coast of North America demonstrate the new exciting times in the wind industry” Peter Brun, DNV GL
most cost efficient, new build generation
All this illustrates the vast potential for
technology, however offshore wind
offshore wind in coming years – and most
technology is getting increasingly closer to
experts agree that cost efficiency gains from
matching the cost of energy of its onshore
technology improvements and innovations
counterpart, due to its almost limitless size
are set to evolve even further in the next
potential.
decade, driven by bigger machines and rotor diameters.
ResourceGlobal GlobalNetwork Network 39 Resource efficiencies and cost gains from economies of scale from component suppliers and manufacturers. This growth will see capex related cost efficiency potentials further cement offshore wind as one of the most promising renewable energy technologies of the future. Until a few years ago, the wind industry had mostly developed its technology and innovation from its own pioneers - and not least from a costly trial and error approach during the early years of development. This has changed significantly during the last 10 years, with the sector taking advantage of learnings from other industries, including automotive and aerospace and the component manufacturers who supply them. New offshore wind turbines, with structures reaching heights over 200-250 metres and “nacelles” (the enclosure that houses all the generating components in a wind turbine) including gigantic blades that weigh more than 475 tonnes, call for new safety requirements and construction methods. The immense size of the technology means that learnings and experiences from And this is all before we have even started
both the maritime sector (e.g. installation
to talk about large-scale industrialisation
vessels, logistics etc.) and the oil & gas
of manufacturing processes. Despite the
sector (construction, safety, operation &
industry’s growth, the annual number of
maintenance etc.) are becoming increasingly
offshore wind turbines produced is still only
relevant – not least in the areas of safety
about 500-700 turbines, so imagine when
and risk management approaches and
the market expands to yearly throughputs
procedures.
of 1,500-2,000 turbines with the associated
40
COLUMNS | Peter Brun This multidisciplinary approach has huge potential benefits both for the scaling of offshore wind in the North Sea in Europe, but also as offshore wind starts to move outside its core geographic area of Northwest Europe, to take advantage of increasingly cost competitive levels in emerging markets. These new markets come with new risks including typhoons, hurricanes, earthquakes and softer seabed conditions, which will all have consequences for the choice of turbine technology and foundations. Additional adaptations include high wind speed classification of the equipment, just to mention some of the most relevant risk areas. In 2018, commercial projects of more than 5,700MW in Taiwan and almost 1,900MW on the East coast of North America both demonstrate the new exciting times in the wind industry but also the associated challenges and opportunities to bring these projects to successful implementation in markets with no or only little experience in offshore wind.
sectors with the core knowledge in the traditional wind sector, alongside new players
When the next stage of project
in the market, will enable the industry to
implementation is completed in the new
bring forward complex projects in a safe and
markets within the next 3-4 years, a much
secure manner for project owners, lenders,
bigger pipeline will open in even newer
insurers, manufacturers or governments and
markets and states in both Asia and North
ensure the offshore wind industry’s success
America.
in these new markets.
Being able to leverage the experience of
By combining the skills from various sectors,
experts in both the oil & gas and maritime
the wind industry will be set up to address
Resource Global Network
the many new challenges that the large-scale
In the next decades, it will be the offshore
offshore turbines will present in the future in
wind industry which is set to stretch the
terms of safety, transportation, construction
boundaries of what until now has been
and operation risks. A sizable challenge, but
considered feasible in scale and technological
an exciting next step in the future of offshore
challenge.
wind. It is mindboggling that material and technology innovation used to be led by the aerospace industry.
a j
41
Building a Multi-Asset Mid-Tier West African Gold Producer
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44
MINING | GoviEx Uranium
Resource Global Network
GOVIEX URANIUM A growing Africa-focused uranium company
45
46
MINING | GoviEx Uranium
GoviEx Uranium is a uranium development company with three advanced projects in Niger, Zambia and Mali. From these African assets, GoviEx boasts a total resource of around 230 million pounds of uranium in the ground, along with plenty of exploration upside at each property. The business was established in 2007 by Govind Friedland, the son of highlysuccessful North American mining entrepreneur Robert Friedland. At the time, Govind was living in Beijing and suffering the effects of the dangerous pollution that was engulfing the city as a result of the wide-scale burning of fossil fuels. It was at this point that Govind realised the necessity for alternative, clean sources of energy across the world and foresaw a bullish market for uranium. Not long after the company was formed, an opportunity arose to acquire five mineral licenses in Western Niger, within one of the world’s most significant sandstone-hosted uranium deposits: the Tim Mersoi Basin. By March 2013, the company had used a local drilling company named Esafor to complete 650,000 metres of drilling across the property, which had been christened the
Resource Global Network
47
48
MINING | GoviEx Uranium
Daniel Major explains how the company’s
A mid-tier uranium producer
cornerstone asset has progressed over the
Thus, GoviEx became a multi-asset,
last five years.
Africa-based uranium firm with three
Madaouela Uranium Project. GoviEx’s CEO
advanced development projects, and from “Just after that [March 2013], we completed
a shareholder structure point of view, the
our first pre-feasibility for the property.
company became comprised of four major
We submitted the mine application during
shareholders: Denison Mines, Govind
2015 and by January 2016 the mine was
Friedland, Cameco and Ivanhoe Industries.
fully permitted from both a mining and environmental permit perspective.”
This impressive capital structure provides a strong layer of industry knowledge from
Then in June 2016, GoviEx completed a
Denison and Cameco, two veterans of the
transaction with fellow Canadian miner
global uranium space along with another
Denison Mines, which was to prove a
experienced mining industry participant in
significant development in the company’s
Ivanhoe.
overall story. The deal saw the latter increasing its shareholding in GoviEx to 25%,
With a total resource estimate of 230
and in return, GoviEx became owners of
million pounds of uranium across its African
Denison’s other projects in Africa.
Resource Global Network
projects, GoviEx is set to comfortably fit into
up, they are very large and would have an
the mid-tier of global uranium assets within
impact on the market if they were to turn up
the next five to 10 years.
tomorrow.”
Major admits that none of the three projects
In the aftermath of the 2011 Fukushima
will fit into the large-scale bracket defined
disaster, the nuclear industry went through
by mines such as Cameco’s McArthur River
what Major calls a ‘cultural shock’ with panic
and Cigar Lake in Canada, but he points to
spreading through international markets. For
the fact that all of the company’s assets are
example, Japan shut down all of its nuclear
targeted towards producing more than 2.5
facilities for a full safety review and public
million pounds per annum for an extended
sentiment in Germany shifted sharply away
period of time.
from nuclear energy in favour of renewables.
“That is positive as well because we are
The result of this shift in attitudes on nuclear
already permitted for two of our projects,
energy was a drop in demand for uranium
and so when we come into production, we
across the world, which subsequently pushed
can slot in without making a major impact
the commodity price down, leaving the
on the market. If you look at some of the
uranium mining industry in a quandary.
big Canadian projects that are due to come
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MINING | GoviEx Uranium
An end to the nuclear thaw?
somewhere, and the only large, clear energy baseload source is nuclear,” claims Major.
In recent years however, Major has observed sentiments changing once again, with
This realisation has been reflected in a
countries warming towards nuclear as
rising growth in nuclear demand at 3% while
a viable energy source, having received
generation levels have returned to pre-
reassurance through the widespread
Fukushima levels. “The Japanese are ramping
introduction of new safety measures and
up their re-starts. They currently have eight
protocols.
and are increasing that number, and the Chinese are on a very strong growth build at
“As renewables have tried to increase
the moment with over 15 reactors currently
their stake, there has been an increasing
under construction.
realisation that you do also need to have a baseload clean energy source from
“We have now reached the fastest rate of
ResourceGlobal GlobalNetwork Network 51 Resource
reactor build for the last 25 years and new
pounds of uranium will come off the market
countries are coming onstream such as
in the next 10 years as older mines reach the
the UAE and India, who are building very
end of their life, plus about 15 million pounds
fast; importantly, the US is now proactively
of secondary feed will also come off the
protecting its nuclear reactors.”
market in the next five years.
Despite these positive developments taking
“The other risk the industry is facing is
place in markets across the world, the
the permitting process in some regions,
nuclear industry is faced with a big strain
particularly in Canada, where you’re looking
on the supply side, as a number of major
at anywhere between 10 and 20 years to
uranium mines reach depletion over the next
permit a uranium project.”
decade. This lengthy permitting process described In fact, Major postulates that about 30 million
by Major could contribute to a potentially
52
MINING | GoviEx Uranium
Resource Global Network
Daniel Major, CEO damaging lag in new supply coming online,
Key project parameters at Madaouela include
and sharply brings into focus the fact that
a 21-year mine life and production of 2.7
GoviEx has already fully permitted its projects
million pounds per annum of uranium at a
in Niger and Zambia.
cash cost of roughly US$25 per pound, with
Madaouela
pre-production capital at about $359 million; however, Major is hopeful that GoviEx
At Madaouela in Niger, the company has
can improve on these metrics in the final
completed three different pre-feasibility
feasibility through its various optimisations.
studies on the project and is now working on further optimisations before it kicks off the
The company is looking at modularising
definitive feasibility study later this year.
construction to accelerate the process and is also assessing the potential use of hybrid
“We’ve been looking at what we can do to
power at the site.
reduce consumables and reduce the size of the plant amongst other improvements, so
“Our current model takes power from Niger’s
that when we do the final feasibility study,
coal-fired national grid, but because the
it will be as optimal as we can get it,” says
project is located in the Sahara Desert, it
Major.
seems logical to leverage the 12 hours of sun a day by using solar.”
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MINING | GoviEx Uranium
GoviEx also believes that a hybrid power
offtake participation. Once the strategy has
system could reduce costs on power by
been carried out, GoviEx will commence
about 25-30% compared to using the coal-
construction work at Madaouela, with the
fired grid alone, while a hybrid system would
mine slated for completion within three
also provide greater flexibility.
years.
“We have Medea Capital Partners working on
Mutanga and Falea
the debt financing for the project and have
GoviEx’s other near-term, fully-permitted
got expressions of interest from a number
project is the Mutanga project in Zambia,
of export credit agencies and commercial
which is giving the company a very nice
banks. We’ve also appointed Houlihan Lokey
problem to have. “That project is causing us
as our advisors on offtake,” he explains.
some grief because it is almost as good as Madaouela,” quips Major.
This crucial financing stage of the project seems to be in good hands, owing to the fact
Strengths of the Mutanga project include
that individuals from Medea and Houlihan
the fact that it is a relatively straightforward
were part of a former team at Société
project. GoviEx is planning to develop an
Générale who worked on debt financing
open pit, heap leach operation with very low
for several major projects during the last
acid consumption.
uranium cycle in Africa. The project also has a low CAPEX of $120 The final step of the company’s ‘fully-
million for 2.5 million pounds per annum
funded’ development strategy is project
along with plenty of exploration upside.
equity financing, after project debt and
Resource Global Network
The company has recently completed radon
silver and copper credits. In addition, an
and trending work at Mutanga, which has
external company had previously completed
provided a number of interesting drill
a pre-feasibility study on the project, which
targets that the company will test over the
means there is a full mine design already
coming months. Major reveals that getting
waiting for GoviEx.
Madaouela into production remains the key short-term goal for GoviEx, but he anticipates
“Overall, we have a big resource, we have
that Mutanga is only a few years behind the
permits in place and our strategy is to get
cornerstone development.
these uranium projects going in an improving uranium market. That is the headline
“It will take three years to build Madaouela,
message we want to get across to investors,”
then another two or three years to get
concludes Major.
Mutanga going, so within five years we could have two operations producing between five
“We look forward to continuing our work to
to six million pounds of uranium per annum,
advance GoviEx’s mine-permitted projects
along with another advanced project in Mali.” in Africa, in cooperation with our host governments, stakeholders, and strategic The Falea project in Mali is currently smaller
partners,” adds executive chairman Govind
than Madaouela and Mutanga, but it offers
Friedland.
an interesting twist in the shape of significant
TSX-V:GXU OTCQB:GVXXF
r j
55
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58
MINING | NexGen Energy
Resource Global Network
Advancing a major asset in the world’s best uranium deposit
59
60
MINING | NexGen Energy
NexGen Energy was formed to address a major structural risk that was forming in global energy markets during the 2000s. This was the fact that the world was seeing uranium production mostly concentrated from within non-OECD nations. NexGen was formed to discover the world’s next tier one uranium asset. What the company ended up finding was better than anything that has been seen in the sector and one that goes a long way to addressing these structural issues in the global energy mix. The company was founded in the 12 months following the Fukushima accident in Japan. The impact of the 2011 disaster was heavy-hitting to the uranium industry, however NexGen viewed the downturn as a rare and opportune moment to acquire 260,000 hectares of land in Canada’s Athabasca Basin – within what the company believes is the world’s best uranium jurisdiction: Saskatchewan. “We were able to acquire the land position for a very good price and if you wanted to do that today, you wouldn’t be able to,” claims Travis McPherson, vice-president, corporate development at NexGen.
Resource Global Network “We took advantage of the negative sentiment towards uranium at that time, knowing that nuclear is a critical, diversifying portion of any countries’ energy mix. “We were very confident in the fundamentals of that commodity and remain so. We have never been as constructive about the supplydemand fundamentals as we are today. Nuclear energy has a very bright future especially as the world focuses on clean reliable energy sources.” NexGen is the largest landholder in the Southwest part of the Athabasca Basin, which represents the future of Canada’s uranium industry according to McPherson and several leading pundits. Within the company’s vast landholding in the Athabasca Basin is its flagship Rook I project, which includes the 100%-owned Arrow Deposit – the jewel in NexGen’s Canadian crown.
Follow the trend “The district is extremely well endowed; our deposit remains open in every direction and that is just one part of a 9 km known mineralised trend that we have on our property.” As part of its ongoing exploration activity at Arrow, NexGen has poked holes in several areas around the strike and everywhere it has looked it has hit more uranium mineralisation. This explains why the company is so convinced that it is located in one of the most endowed mineral belts in the world, across any commodity.
61
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MINING | NexGen Energy
“For us to have the most dominant foothold
in the best uranium district in the world
in this area, straddling the edge of the
due to the professional and transparent
Athabasca Basin, is very strategic. Stradling
stance of the Saskatchewan and Canadian
the Basin boundary is where you want to be
governments, who have a long history and
because, theoretically, that’s where a deposit
deep understanding of uranium mining. “We
would be at its most economic, where the
wouldn’t want to be working anywhere else,”
Basin comes up from the depth and is shown
McPherson enthuses.
at or near surface.” The most notable examples of the provincial NexGen also considers itself to be located
government’s experience in handling major
Resource Global Network
uranium developments comes in the shape
compared to other uranium deposits in the
of Cameco’s McArthur River and Cigar Lake
province and across Canada, the unique
mega-mines, which are currently the world’s
thing about the Arrow Deposit is the fact that
largest and highest-grade uranium mines,
the resource is completely contained within
located in Northern Saskatchewan. According
basement rock with no surface water.
to McPherson, Arrow will potentially propel NexGen into the number one position
“That really is a massive differentiator from
globally.
everything else out there because it means the resource can be mined using traditional
However, McPherson stresses that when
underground methods.”
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MINING | NexGen Energy
“We were very confident in the fundamentals of that commodity and remain so. We have never been as constructive about the supply-demand fundamentals as we are today. Nuclear energy has a very bright future especially as the world focuses on clean reliable energy sources.” Travis McPherson, vice president, corporate development
Resource Global Network
65
66
MINING | NexGen Energy The deposit shares similarities with Canada’s
“Also, because the deposit is completely
high profile uranium mines in terms of scale
vertical we are able to extract almost all of
and grade profile.
the resources with very high recovery rates as confirmed by our recent metallurgical
Furthermore, it is the unique technical setting
results, along with low deleterious elements
of the deposit that is driving the economics
such as arsenic, selenium or antimony.”
seen in the company’s preliminary economic
Mouth-watering economics
assessment (PEA), published in July of last year. “Within the basement rock you are talking about extremely competent, essentially impermeable ground conditions that are very stable,“ explains McPherson. “This means
NexGen’s PEA for the Arrow Deposit revealed a mouth-watering selection of project economics including a post-tax net present value of C$3.5 billion, an after-tax internal rate of return of 57% and a 1.1 year payback period on C$1.2 billion in capital costs.
extraction comes at industry leading low
For a project with an average annual
costs due to the combination of scale, grade
production of 27.6 million pounds of uranium
and technical setting.
(in the first five years) over a 14.4 year mine
Resource Global Network life, the outlined economics are absolutely
“All of these elements combine to produce
unique not just in the uranium space but
one of the most economically powerful
across the entire mining industry, according
mining projects out there irrespective of the
to McPherson.
commodity one is speaking about.”
He goes on to run through a checklist of
During the recent winter months, NexGen
important features that are crucial for any
was engaged in a two-pronged drilling
mining project to be successful:
programme at the Arrow Deposit, the first half of which involved development
“1) Highest quality mining jurisdiction –
activity in the form of geotechnical drilling,
check. 2) No surface of ground water issues
metallurgical and hydro-geological work, as
– check. 3) Working closely in a partnership
well as some environmental baseline and
approach with the local communities – check.
community relations activity.
4) uranium specific advantages (high grades and large tonnages, basement hosted, low
The other half of the winter drill programme
delirious elements) – check.
has been called exploration drilling by the company, although McPherson explains that
67
68
MINING | NexGen Energy
the actual purpose of the undertaking was
drilling partners to transportation, while also
to understand and test the global context of
dipping into the highly-skilled employment
Arrow.
market.
Nonetheless, the assay results confirmed
“We are continuing to look at and develop
uranium mineralisation in aggressive step
our supply chain into the local areas.
outs to the Northeast of the deposit and also
We want to use suppliers that may be in
along strike. “This summer we are following
Saskatoon or other parts of Saskatchewan
up on these new zones.
and help them develop into locally-focused businesses in order to supply our projects.
“Again, the idea is not to delineate another 10 million pounds of resources per say, but to
“We’re also working with the communities
understand if there is another Arrow sitting
in the areas of health, education and
there.”
workforce development in order for everyone to be involved in the tremendous
During the winter drill programme and throughout its time in the Athabasca Basin,
opportunity in front of us all.”
NexGen has been able to call upon a plethora
A packed pipeline
of local goods and services companies, from
Following the completion of the summer
ResourceGlobal GlobalNetwork Network 69 Resource
drill programme at Arrow, NexGen will gear
strained supply as several major global
up for the release of its maiden pre-feasibility deposits reach depletion, the importance of study for the project, which will include an
NexGen’s high-grade Arrow Deposit comes
updated mineral resource estimate.
sharply into focus.
The PFS is due in early Q4 of this year and will The company is confident that nuclear be followed up by initiating the permitting
energy is on the rise once again and is aiming
process shortly thereafter. In 2019, the
to supply the industry with the world’s
company will continue expansion and
highest quality uranium from the world’s
definition drilling to support the feasibility
best uranium project in the world’s best
study as well as continuing the permitting
mining jurisdiction - the Athabasca Basin,
process for the project.
Saskatchewan.
With demand for uranium steadily increasing against a backdrop of concentrated and
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72
MINING |Blue Sky Uranium
CRITICAL ELEMENTS Developing a project in Québec – the premier lithium districtof the Western world
Resource Global Network
BLUE SKY URANIUM Leading uranium discovery in Argentina
73
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MINING |Blue Sky Uranium
Blue Sky Uranium was incorporated in 2006 with the primary objective to take advantage of opportunities for large-scale uranium discoveries in Argentina. Executives at the TSX-V listed exploration company were well aware of a number of highly prospective regions in the South of the country, which have been known to host uranium deposits of a style not too dissimilar from those commonly found in Australia and Western Africa. Over the last 12 years, Blue Sky has acquired around 450,000 hectares of property in Southern Argentina and partnered with Areva, the world’s largest integrated uranium company, until 2011 when the Fukushima disaster in Japan sent the industry into deep freeze.
“Since then, we’ve made some tremendous strides forward due to the new people we’ve been able to employ, namely our new geologist Guillermo Pensado, who is a uranium geologist with a very large pedigree, over 20 years’ experience in Argentina.”
Part of the Grosso Group Cacos has been part of the overarching Grosso Group since its founding 25 years ago, working closely with legendary South American mining executive Joe Grosso in the running of Blue Sky. “We [the Grosso Group] have had an uninterrupted 25-year history of mineral exploration in Argentina in all kinds of metals including lithium, silver and gold and for us Argentina has been ripe with opportunity because it is so unexplored. We’ve demonstrated that so far by making three world class discoveries.” The resource management group advanced the Gualcamayo mine in San Juan province, which is estimated to contain 3.3 million ounces (Moz) of gold and is now in
“It has only been in the last 18 months that
production by Yamana Gold and also has
we’ve really reactivated the company,” says
silver deposits in Southern Argentina, most
Blue Sky’s president and CEO Nikolaos Cacos,
recently discovering the Chinchillas deposit.
discussing the company’s new lease of life after its projects were temporarily placed on care and maintenance in the aftermath of Fukushima.
Resource Global Network The deposit will now be brought into
after the new plants come online in 2019.
production through a lucrative partnership
Much like other sources within its energy mix,
between Grosso Group’s Golden Arrow
Argentina imports uranium primarily from
Resources (previously featured in RGN Vol 4
Kazakhstan and Canada, which has proven to
Iss 7) and SSR Mining. “However, we believe
be a drain on funds.
that the group’s fourth discovery in Argentina is under Blue Sky,” says the CEO.
“Argentina is shifting its focus from importing hydrocarbons and using up all its valuable
Nuclear power is beginning to pick up again
US dollars in foreign exchange and is moving
after reverberations from the Fukushima
towards uranium as a source of reliable,
incident have been fully absorbed by global
efficient and cheap energy.
markets. Multiple reactors are being built across the world, with 56 currently under
“The government is very keen to have a
construction according to Cacos, many
domestic source of uranium and Blue Sky
of which are in countries you wouldn’t
has the project right now to gear up to be
necessarily expect, such as Japan and Saudi
Argentina’s first domestic supplier of uranium
Arabia.
and then become an exporter after that.”
Argentina is home to an advanced nuclear
While it is too early for the company to
energy industry itself. South America’s
confirm Argentina as its first customer, Blue
second largest economy has three nuclear
Sky is working very closely with the federal
power plants in operation, another one
government, in particular within the Rio
under construction, two more that are
Negro province in which it is active, which has
commissioned and two more in the planning
a budding nuclear research industry.
stage. “We are getting a lot of support and are At the moment Argentina needs around
building a really positive rapport between
500,000 pounds of uranium a year to feed
us. We are very confident that Argentina is
the plants that are currently in operation, but
looking at us as a first source of uranium,”
this is set to rise to one million pounds a year
Cacos purrs.
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MINING |Blue Sky Uranium
Carbon-free energy Having seen global uranium prices bounce back in recent years, Cacos is one of many staunch advocates of nuclear energy as a clean, reliable and long-term source of energy. “I believe uranium is our best way of achieving a carbon-free source of energy,” he says. “Reactors can have a long life. The new reactors being built are extremely safe and in terms of energy efficiency I remember reading in a recent article that half a barrel of uranium has enough energy to supply one person’s entire lifetime need of energy. “I think even in Japan when the Fukushima reactor was damaged by the tsunami, it was a very old reactor. There were other new reactors there that weren’t damaged at all. I think part of it is also fear.
Resource Global Network “However, if used properly and safely it is a
in what you are looking for and work closely
natural form of energy that with the proper
with them and that way we can focus our
safeguards is the best form of energy we can strategy.” use.” These local geologists pointed Blue Sky to a Blue Sky has established exploration activity
region surrounding Cerro Solo. Just North of
in two provinces of Southern Argentina; Rio
the deposit, a number of outcroppings were
Negro and Chubut, both of which straddle
located in Rio Negro that generated a great
the geologically diverse Patagonia region.
deal of excitement amongst the geologists.
Despite being highly prospective uranium-
Blue Sky subsequently purchased a very
bearing regions, there had been next to no
large land package and flew a radiometric
exploration projects when the company
survey spanning 28,000km, which remains
arrived in the provinces, aside from the
to this day the largest flown for any metal in
atomic agency for Argentina’s (CNEA) deposit Argentina. in Chubut called Cerro Solo. “It was just amazing to see on a map almost “Initially, we teamed up with local exploration a quarter size of Switzerland all these geologists, they knew where we should be
radioactive anomalies that were popping up,”
focused and that’s always been the Grosso
recalls Cacos. “We were able to acquire really
Group modus operandi: Find the best experts large packages, almost an entire district of potential uranium discovery.”
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MINING |Blue Sky Uranium
Resource Global Network After the airborne surveys, Blue Sky staked the properties and afterwards it was a matter of trying to locate the radiometric anomalies that had showed up on the surveys. “We sent a crew of geologists driving through the properties and it’s very interesting what they saw. Patagonia is a very flat and semiarid area in Argentina and its very sparsely populated, less so than Siberia. “Our team was following a typical dirt road in the area and were raking through the gravel just to clean it up and you could actually see this yellow carnotite right on the side, so the spectrometers in the geologists’ Jeep went off, they got out and within a matter of a few minutes they found the uranium.”
Amarillo Grande With the proliferation of uranium in the region all but confirmed by the geologists on the ground, Blue Sky began to put together a big geophysical mapping programme and conducted trenching to gauge how deep the uranium was occurring, before commencing a drill programme across the large, 140 x 50km land package which is now called Amarillo Grande. “We initially prospected over the entire 140km length of the project but decided in the last year to really focus on one area and we chose the Ivana area,” says Cacos. “We used some very focused geophysics, which turned out to be an excellent guide to how the mineralisation was flowing through.” The type of mineralisation present across the target is called a surficial type deposit, which tend to occur over large areas at a relatively low grade, comparable to uranium deposits found in Namibia or in Western Australia such as the Wiluna deposit. However, the results of a recent drill programme have allowed the company to expand the high grade core at the Ivana target by a further 1km, while
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MINING |Blue Sky Uranium infill drilling results also revealed consistent higher grade thicknesses, including individual results as high as 10,517 ppm or > 1% uranium over 1m. These results are a significant mark-up on the low grades commonly found in the comparable African and Australian deposits, which tend to come in at around 500 ppm or 0.5% uranium. “Our results are really exciting because this is the type of economic grade that can really add up very quickly when you do a resource calculation. We have closed off a series of 3,000m of infill drilling at Ivana, and are very close to publishing our initial resource calculation.” With the resource calculation due in the first week of March, Cacos expects to see an immediate institutional following based on the high grades present in the deposit and the fact that Blue Sky picked up the property for pennies back when it had no real value. “We would become candidates for those uranium investors that are going to see not just the potential of this initial deposit but also that we now have a completely understood model that we can replicate in other areas in this property. We are sitting on an entire uranium deposit with the potential of up to 100 million pounds or more.” Blue Sky’s short term targets in 2018 are three-fold: To put out an initial resource
uninterrupted 25-ye which has been rip
Nik
Australian Resource Business Global Network
“We [the Grosso Group] have had an ear history of mineral exploration in Argentina, pe with opportunity because it is so unexplored�
kolaos Cacos, president and CEO, Blue Sky Uranium Corp
81
Resource Global Network
estimation, to continue its geophysical
potential, as prices for the mineral have
programme that has been an excellent
soared in recent months owing to its
guide to discovery thus far, and to publish
usages as a steel hardener and in high-tech
a preliminary economic assessment on the
batteries.
resource. “We’ve always known about it but didn’t take “We are targeting what we believe is
much notice because vanadium was typically
economic in this environment today, and I
between $3-5 per pound, but now it fetches
want to demonstrate that,” says a confident
between $12-13 and all of a sudden it’s
Cacos. “If prices of uranium go up that’s
become a very significant metal.
fantastic, but we are focused on what would make money today.”
“This is a real game changer here, its giving the Amarillo Grande project an entire new
Finally, the occurrence of vanadium alongside
complexion.”
uranium at the Amarillo Grande deposit is also adding further juice to its economic
abj
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RENEWABLE ENERGY | Gemini Wind Park
GEMINI wind park
Resource Global Network
A watershed project for the Dutch offshore wind industry
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RENEWABLE ENERGY | Gemini Wind Park
Gemini Wind Park was officially opened in May 2017 at a public ceremony in Eemshaven, the seaport town located in the North of the Netherlands which served as the onshore base from which the major offshore project was delivered. The inauguration resembled the bookend of eight years of exhaustive work by the team and its partners, however Gemini’s CEO Matthias Haag is quick to highlight that while it was a joyous occasion for the team, the real satisfaction was taken when the park first began operations back in October 2016. “The wind park was already running at that time so it was a nice external milestone, but for the team the more important thing was having the wind park running,” says Haag.
Resource Global Network
“Nonetheless, its important that we had
The sheer magnitude of this project is
everything formalised with all the t’s crossed
revealed by the fact that it became the
and the i’s dotted, making sure that all the
world’s largest offshore wind project when
documentation is there. We also combined
it came online, and it has only been topped
the official opening with a restructuring of
this year by the arrival of the 630MW London
the financing as well, which was very positive
Array project, found in waters near the
for the shareholders and the banks.”
United Kingdom.
Gemini is located in the North Sea around 85
Collaboration is key
km North of the Dutch coast, boasting a total
Haag reveals that collaboration among
capacity of 600MW delivered by 150 turbines
the team and its partners was absolutely
across two sites – hence the name Gemini,
essential to the successful delivery of this era-
meaning ‘twins’.
defining project. “It was a big challenge to get
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RENEWABLE ENERGY | Gemini Wind Park it over the line, but we had a very good team and good partners. “Van Oord and Siemens were the main contractors, but we also shared good relations with all the other parties involved, be it the operators, or the banks who were financing the whole contract. “This working together of all parties was the main reason why the project was successful and delivered on time,” says the CEO. During the construction period, Gemini and its partners employed best in-class technologies to optimise safety and efficiency at the site, for example an automatic identification transponder system (AIS) was used to track the position of each installation and maintenance vessel. Each ship’s AIS transmitted its position, heading, speed and registered maritime identification number every two to 10 seconds, and this data was received by ships in the vicinity in case of incident. “Realistically, on a big project like this one you have to admit that things can happen. The question is; are you prepared for that and able to react in the right way? “We had an in-house team that dealt with HSE safety but also environmental guidelines, health issues and other things. We had a HSE manager and a number of people going offshore in the vessels to work with the contractors in more detail and we had
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RENEWABLE ENERGY | Gemini Wind Park
ResourceGlobal GlobalNetwork Network 93 Resource
a lot of discussions with the contractors to
certainly an example of how things can work
make sure that all the requirements were
like that and the government was happy to
understood and going ahead the way they
see that things can progress on time and
were supposed to.”
on budget. Their strategy for the renewable change in energy provision is slowly coming
Gemini’s size and energy production capacity instantly set a new benchmark for offshore
to fruition.”
wind projects globally, but it was also the
Global winds of change
delivery of the project on time and on budget
Since the landmark Paris climate accord,
which stretched the industry’s perception of
nearly all recognised governments (bar the
what was possible for an offshore project.
US) around the world have agreed to limit the amount of damaging CO2 emissions
“In terms of the execution and the finance,
released into the atmosphere and increase
this was by a distance the biggest project
the generation of renewable energy sources
finance of an offshore wind park that took
to replace polluting carbon-based energy
place at the time in 2014,” Haag claims.
sources.
“With €2.8 billion secured in funding it was
Like many European nations, the Dutch
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RENEWABLE ENERGY | Gemini Wind Park
Resource Global Network government set an individual renewable
offshore projects, the Gemini project
energy target in the wake of the Paris
has also contributed to warming public
agreement, however it is struggling to meet
sentiments towards renewable energy in the
its 2020 target of having 14% of its total
Netherlands and this was encapsulated by
energy mix supplied by renewables.
the public reaction to the development in the local Eemshaven region.
This target was agreed with the European Union back in 2007, and was soon followed
“All interaction we had with the public was
by an even more ambitious target of 27%
very positive,” reveals Haag. “People were
renewable energy by 2030. Most recently,
very positive about Gemini and the fact that it
this 2030 target was further increased to 32%
happened.
in June this year. “On the other hand, you have to understand Therefore, the Dutch government has a
that the entire wind park is beyond the
mountain to climb if it wants to meet these
horizon so for the general public it is not
ambitious targets and will need many more
visible at all. All they could see was the
onshore and offshore wind projects of the
onshore activity with the preparation at the
same magnitude as Gemini, which reduces
harbour.”
reducing CO2 emissions by 1.25 million tonnes per year.
The Gemini team held an open day in Eemshaven where members of the public
“Gemini alone provides enough power for
were given a tour of the onshore facilities
the energy needs of the three Northern
and were also taken in small vessels to see
provinces of the Netherlands. These big
the turbines onsite. The day was deemed a
projects do make a difference and you can
big success, with attendance far exceeding
see that the Dutch government is planning
expectations prior to the event.
multiple large MW projects to be added in the coming years.”
A key reason for the successful reception of the project by the public was the fact that it
In fact, the government recently announced
provided significant short-term and long-term
plans to build three offshore wind farms
economic opportunities in the local area.
by 2030, in addition to five offshore sites
“Siemens made sure they employed people
which will be delivered before 2023. The
from the region in their ship which is now
government hopes that these large-scale
24/7 in the field, operating and maintaining
projects will produce 40% of the country’s
the wind turbines.”
electricity needs by 2030. This lasting positive economic impact While acting as a stimulus for these future
of the project, along with the Gemini
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RENEWABLE ENERGY | Gemini Wind Park
team’s proactive approach to stakeholder
resembles a significant long-term source of
management, has gone a long way to
renewable energy for the Dutch government,
ensuring the legacy of the wind park remains as the country looks to diversify its energy protected over the next 20 years.
supply and align with EU green energy goals.
A strong start to life
The wind park will continue operating
During its first 12 months of operation,
profitably beyond the current 15-year subsidy
Gemini consistently delivered on its capacity
tariff it has agreed with the government, an
despite it being a ‘bad wind year’, according
idea that was deemed impossible by the wind
to Haag. “But in terms of availability and
industry not long ago.
functionality of the wind park, we are very happy and are having higher than agreed
This reflects the pace of change currently
availability, which is being achieved on a
afoot in the wind industry, as zero
consistent basis.”
subsidy projects become more prevalent, costs continue to fall and technological
With a current lifetime of 20 years, Gemini
improvements drive the industry forward.
Resource Global Network
“I think it’s an extremely important time for
“Looking around the world, offshore wind
offshore. We have seen so much growth
is taking off everywhere and if you look at
recently, but I think we are still at the start
a recent forecast from Bloomberg, they
the real growth is still to come.
have predicted six-fold growth by 2030 which is hugely exciting and there is a lot of
“If you look at what is happening in Taiwan,
happening. We have only seen the start of
India, China, Turkey, the French have
offshore wind and the big industrial change
finally decided they are going ahead with
or revolution is just beginning.”
something, the Belgians are building, the UK and Germany still have big plans. Even the US has started planning some offshore farms.
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AFRICA. IN THE PALM OF YOUR HAND.
ONLINE NOW WWW.AFRICANBUSINESSNETWORK.CO.ZA
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RENEWABLE ENERGY | juwi Renewable Energies
JUWI
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A new focus on hybrid energy solutions across sub-Saharan Africa
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RENEWABLE ENERGY | juwi Renewable Energies
juwi Renewable Energies South Africa is part of the international juwi group, one of the world’s leading companies in the renewable energy industry. The South African business is one of 15 subsidiaries in countries worldwide, after the original juwi group decided to expand out of its German roots into new international markets. Since adopting this strategy, the group has become adept at observing the ebb and flow of renewable energy sentiments in different jurisdictions and identifying the opportune moment to move into or out of a particular market. juwi registered in South Africa in 2010, when the stars were beginning to align in the then nascent renewable energy sector, with the announcement of the government’s inaugural renewable energy independent power purchase programme (REIPP). juwi’s arrival into the South African renewable energy market in 2010 allowed the subsidiary time to build its workforce over the course of 2011 ahead of its participation in the first round of solar projects under REIPPP in 2012 and 2013. Managing director Greg Austin joined juwi
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RENEWABLE ENERGY | juwi Renewable Energies
South Africa at the end of 2012 after it had
until financial close, at which point a financial
signed four engineering, procurement and
investor would step in.
construction (EPC) contracts for four solar projects comprising 35MW in Round 1 of
More recently the company has added solar
REIPPP.
project development to its business. This has allowed juwi to develop project rights
“When I joined we executed those projects,
alongside being able to build and operate
predominantly over the course of 2013,” he
a solar project together with the right
says. “Subsequent to that, a few things have
investment partner.
happened; we have diversified our business models, grown our business and been
“In parallel with that we’ve grown from a
successful in following rounds of the REIPPP.”
handful of people in 2012 to over 50 staff and we have further diversified the business
juwi’s initial strategy was to follow two core
to include commercial and industrial solar
business models in South Africa, the first of
power systems.
which was to provide EPC services to utilityscale solar plants. Meanwhile, juwi would also
“More recently our Cape Town office forms
act as a project developer for wind farms,
the hub for linking with off takers particularly
where it would effectively own projects up
in the mining sector for our cutting edge
Resource Global Network
hybrid power solutions. Both of these
boom, building five utility scale solar plants
latter business models are B2B in nature
totalling 121MW to date, along with an
as opposed to the public procurement
extensive portfolio of both of wind and
programme represented by REIPP in South
solar projects in South Africa that are fully
Africa.”
developed and ready for bidding in the next
Reaping the benefits
REIPP procurement round.
The introduction of REIPPP was a genuine
After focusing most of its early efforts on
watershed moment in South Africa’s
securing projects in the first round of REIPPP,
renewable energy industry. In the six years
juwi secured an 86MW solar project in the
since the first round of the programme, over
third round, which was commissioned in mid-
6.1GW of renewable energy projects have
2016 and has been in operation for two years
been allocated over four rounds of bids,
now.
which has generated investment of around R194 billion (US$16 billion), none of which
“We have been successful in selling one
has come with any form of government
of our early wind farm projects that we
subsidy.
developed back in 2012,” says Austin. “It was awarded as a project in Round 4 of REIPPP
juwi has played a key role in this investment
which has been the round where we have had all the signing delays.”
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RENEWABLE ENERGY | juwi Renewable Energies
“We have diversified our business models, grown our business and been suc After three successful rounds of
and secure PPA signatures for three solar
procurement, the fourth programme was
projects totalling 250MW in Round 4. juwi’s
effectively put on hold back in 2015 despite
strong position in the local market has been
significant capital investment and job
further underlined as a result.
creation within the South African renewables industry.
Hybrid energy solutions juwi has also developed its strategy around
Therefore, the last three years have proven
renewables in the wider sub-Saharan African
to be a frustrating period for juwi and many
region, providing ‘hybrid’ energy solutions to
renewable energy industry stakeholders
the mining industry under a B2B model as
who have had to wait patiently for the
part of a global focus for the juwi group.
final signatures on the Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs).
“Our global hybrid business initiative combines solar, wind, any thermal generator
However, the wait finally ended in April when
and storage, and we are focusing our efforts
South Africa’s energy minister Jeff Radebe
in this regard.”
signed the agreements for 27 PPAs worth a total of R56 billion, in a fresh sign of the
Austin reveals that the company is currently
government’s commitment to the renewables
working on a number of significant mining
industry.
projects in Africa, building on its experiences on an award-winning reference project. In
As a result, juwi has been able to reach
2016, juwi commissioned a 10.6MW solar
financial close on the wind farm project sale,
PV plus diesel plus battery storage hybrid
ResourceGlobal GlobalNetwork Network 107 Resource
ccessful in following rounds of the REIPPP.” Greg Austin, managing director system at the DeGrussa Mine, located around energy? For Austin, the key consideration is 900 km Northeast of Perth in Western
ultimately cost. “If you look at mines, they can
Australia.
either be grid-connected, entirely off-grid or they can be on a weak-grid.
The US$40 million project remains two years later as the largest integrated off-grid solar
“Typically, you would see that most mines,
and battery storage facility globally, and fully
even if they are connected to the grid, have
integrates with the existing 19MW diesel-
substantial thermal power plants on site
fired power station at the site, providing
which will typically be diesel or heavy fuel oil-
an additional source of power and energy
based. The cost of that energy is really high
storage with related cost and carbon
compared to solar. From a price perspective
emissions reductions.
solar is a no-brainer, assuming that a suitably long-term PPA can be agreed between the
Having received extremely positive
involved parties.
feedback from the mine’s operator Sandfire Resources throughout the two years since
“When you put these things side-by-side
its installation, juwi believes that solar hybrid
there are price offerings under a PPA
facilities are fast becoming the benchmark
environment that a thermal power plant
for reliable and sustainable energy supply to
simply cannot complete with.”
remotely located mines. In addition to low costs, the reliability and But why exactly are these hybrid plants so
quality of the energy supplied are another
valuable in terms of providing reliable off-grid key draw for mining companies considering
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RENEWABLE ENERGY | juwi Renewable Energies
Resource Global Network hybrid systems for remote mines. This is something that juwi is attempting to promote via the success of the DeGrussa mine. “The reliability and the quality of the hybrid system is as good, if not better than that from the standalone diesel system,” according to Peter Gordon the electrical superintendent at Sandfire Resources. “Those are the first points we are trying to hit. Once you achieve that and reference it, that’s when it makes a mark in everybody’s minds,” says Austin. “Whenever you talk to miners about power and its relative costs and reliability, everyone is looking at solar, so that’s quite an exciting place for us to be in right now.” Hybrid facilities are particularly compelling for many mining operators across subSaharan Africa because of the increased number of off-grid large-scale mines. Typically, off-grid connections are much more expensive than grid-connected mines in Africa and are often a much poorer quality. Not only that, but according to Austin: “We anticipate the introduction of our hybrid solutions as a key enabler of new investments into proven mining resources that otherwise would not be bankable with the costs of providing a pure thermal power solution in some locations.” Therefore, the continent is presenting fertile ground for juwi’s low cost, high quality and
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RENEWABLE ENERGY | juwi Renewable Energies
“Whenever you talk to miners abou everyone is looking at solar, so that’s q
reliable hybrid energy systems, as off-grid
Having said that there is still a robust
mine operators look for reductions in and
industry which has had to really sharpen its
alternatives to their current electricity tariffs.
pencils and find a way to deliver value for its
South Africa’s resurgent renewables sector
customers.” Now it seems that brighter days are on the
Returning to the current state of play in
horizon once again with the announcement
South Africa’s renewable energy industry,
of the fifth round of REIPPP, which will
Austin admits that the sector has weathered
be launched this year for over 1.8GW of
a storm in recent years because of the delays
renewable energy projects.
in the final project sign off in Round 4 of the REIPPP.
This programme will provide a major investment boost to the renewables industry,
“The entire fabric of the market has had
which is already benefitting from rapidly
a massive setback because of the delays.
falling costs across the board, particularly in
Resource Global Network
ut power and its relative costs and reliability, quite an exciting place for us to be in right now.”
the commercial and industrial solar sector.
has grown from having the capacity to build 35MW in around a year and a half, to being
In addition, business conditions in South
able to build 250MW in that same timeframe.
Africa have also improved as a result of political changes earlier this year, which
“Looking back over the last five years juwi has
is further contributing to a better outlook
realised or secured 500MW of solar and wind
for juwi and its fellow renewable energy
projects in South Africa. In terms of the sub-
developers.
Saharan business, we are bullish about the hybrid prospects and are aiming to achieve
Reflecting on juwi’s development in South
deployment of around 100MW by 2021.”
Africa, Austin tells RGN that the company
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RENEWABLE ENERGY | ClearVue PV
Resource Global Network
V P E U
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V R A E L The
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of e r tu
su
ble a n i sta
re
he s i re
u
ect t i h rc
a
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RENEWABLE ENERGY | ClearVue PV
ClearVue PV’s executive chairman Victor Rosenberg first considered working in the building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) space a few years after the company was formed in 1995, when it operated under its former name Tropiglas Technologies. The company’s core product offering is at its simplest highly energy efficient, ultra clear glass that generates electricity via solar technology. After working with organic materials within its prototype product, the company endured a number of setbacks before changing direction to focus on progressing a new advanced glazing solution. Fast forward to 2018 and after many years of refining its technology, ClearVue is close to officially launching a smart building material product that could disrupt some of the world’s biggest industries.
The interlayer contains inorganic nanoparticles, which fortifies the product and also converts ultraviolet (UV) light to the lower infrared range. “We keep the heat out and allow the visible light to go through. We then direct the infrared towards the edges by various mechanisms,” says Rosenberg. The reflected light is collected by photovoltaic cells at the edges of the glass, which currently produces 30W of energy per square metre of material, however the company expects to improve this to 50W per square metre with further research and development effort. In fact, the company has recently announced a significant new development to its technology, in that the solar cells can now be built into the entire structure, instead of just at the edges of the glass. This effectively widens the range of uses into additional markets and represents a key breakthrough for ClearVue’s technical team. “The whole product and technology is contained within a glass structure as an Integrated Glass Unit (IGU), so that you can’t actually get to the solar cells or the mechanisms inside the glass panel,” says
The process of developing the company’s
Rosenberg. “The expected life is about 25
solar glass product has been an arduous
years and the solar cells are the only part of
one that has taken a great deal of brain
the unit that would deteriorate very slowly
power and trial and error to get to where it
(0.25% pa) over time.”
is now according to Rosenberg, who explains that the basic concept revolves around an
A clear future
activated interlayer that sits between two
ClearVue is not the only company operating
panes of glass.
in the BIPV sector and the technology has already been applied to many buildings and
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RENEWABLE ENERGY | ClearVue PV structures around the world, so why does Rosenberg believe his solar glass is superior to rival products on the market? The answer lies in the fact that the technology is completely transparent and therefore doesn’t compromise aesthetics, while the solar glass is also product integrated and building integrated. Rosenberg believes there is no standard for both as of yet but hopes to change this once the certification process is completed. “We are hopefully going to be the first person to do both, in terms of it being a building material and a building product. It’s a glass structure, like normal glass except it has activity within the product.
Resource Global Network “One of my big statements has always been
The company is targeting big businesses in
that our technology presents a paradigm shift the construction and agriculture industries, in the way glass will be used in the building,
as these are the companies that will be
construction, automobile and agricultural
placed under scrutiny with regards to
industries, because the glass will no longer
compliance with energy efficiency legislation
just be a component of construction, it will
and particularly those in Europe after 2021
also be a renewable energy resource and that when a new set of super-efficiency guidelines really is the crux.�
come into effect.
products from multiple industries is
A self-powering greenhouse
being shaped largely by new rules and
In the agriculture industry, ClearVue wants
regulations introduced by sustainability-
to introduce a 100% self-sustainable
focused governments around the world, and
greenhouse - one that is made from
Rosenberg believes this type of legislation is
glass which allows visible light as well as
going to be ClearVue’s biggest friend.
photosynthetically active radiation (amount
Increasing clamour for energy efficient
of light available for photosynthesis), but also produces energy onsite to power the greenhouse.
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RENEWABLE ENERGY | ClearVue PV Last year, the Federal Government of Australia granted ClearVue $1.6 million to build this world-first greenhouse that incorporates the company’s high-tech product. “They see the advantages like we do and it’s not easy to get money from governments, but they see that there is a clear advantage here. “In fact, wherever you go around the world, the biggest issue is food security,” Rosenberg continues. Already the company has received lots of interest from many areas of the world, all of which are looking for food security. ClearVue is working with industry partners and horticultural scientists to deliver the energy efficient greenhouse, which has recently passed the stage of preliminary drawings for the pilot project. “The reason that we want to work with these industry and scientific partners is because the outcomes need to be from an independent third party, not from us. The independent third party needs to publish the results and confirm what we are claiming.” Corroboration of a demonstration project from a reputable third party source is important for ClearVue as this essentially acts as the company’s salesman and is a key point of promotion for its product around the world. Furthermore, the company is planning to build several other live units in the coming months, including things such as bus shelters
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RENEWABLE ENERGY | ClearVue PV
and super-tech touch screens. “We can talk
along with European standards accreditation
till the cows come home, but these live units
for our window product. We are looking
are our salesmen,” quips Rosenberg.
now to do the US and by the end of the
The commercialisation process
year we will have some products that are fully certified, hopefully in most parts of the world.”
By the time of publish, ClearVue will have started producing units of its industry-
Rosenberg also reveals that he has held
changing solar glass product, with the first
meaningful discussions with around half a
units off the line certified in Australia and
dozen big companies from the UK, France,
Europe
Belgium and Spain after a recent trip to Europe. “They are all very keen to move
“We have just received Australian standards
forward,” he says.
Resource Global Network
“My motto is: Our vision is powering the
agriculture as well,” concludes a confident
future. I’ve always believed that energy and
Rosenberg.
the environment are the two most important areas that one needs to focus on.
You can catch the launch of ClearVue’s product at Fenestration Australia 2018 in
“We will definitely be a player in the global
September, Glasstec conference in Germany
construction industry, the BIPV energy
during October and at Greenbuild Expo 2018
efficiency and even in the automobile
in the US in November.
industry we will play a part and of course
ASX:CPV
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MINING | Barra Resources
BARRA RESOURCES
Targeting two high demand commodities in Western Australia
Resource Global Network
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MINING | Barra Resources
Barra Resources listed on the ASX in 2000 on the back of some gold assets owned by Australia’s largest underground mining contractor Barminco. The company’s initial focus remained on gold exploration and production in Western Australia, although its motivation to stimulate shareholder growth led to Barra taking an interest in the Mt Thirsty Cobalt-Nickel project back in 2006. At Mt Thirsty, Barra established a 32 million tonnes (Mt) resource at 0.13% cobalt and 0.55% nickel, however managing director and CEO Sean Gregory recalls how the project then sat on the firm’s balance sheet as a ‘sleeper’ for around 10 years, until recent movement in the cobalt price brought the project sharply back into focus. While rapidly accelerating cobalt prices in the last year has naturally dictated a flurry of activity on the Mt Thirsty project, Barra recognises the tremendous exploration upside around historical gold mines in WA. Thus, the company adheres to a dual commodity focus in this long-established and stable mining jurisdiction. “If you were to pick two commodities that people would like to invest in, certainly gold and cobalt would be close to the top of most
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MINING | Barra Resources
investor’s lists. That’s why we are progressing
“The weathering at Mt Thirsty is deeper
both,” says Gregory.
and more pervasive such that the cobalt has broken away from the silicates and the
“This also provides a natural hedge in our
iron oxide, and the cobalt is now with the
balance sheet and for our investors and
manganese in a mineral called asbolane.
enables us to fill up the year with news flow from both assets.”
Mt Thirsty Western Australia has an incredibly diverse
“It is this mineral which is amenable to agitated atmospheric leaching, which allows us to recover that cobalt at relatively low capital costs.”
range of ancient geological structures and hosts several very large laterite nickel-
Barra delivered a scoping study for the Mt
cobalt deposits, many of which have been
Thirsty project in October last year which
discovered and taken into production.
outlined a host of attractive project metrics including a low capital cost of AUS$212
Yet Mt Thirsty goes against the grain in this
million, largely due to the aforementioned
respect, being a pure cobalt project with
geological idiosyncrasies within the deposit.
some nickel credits. The reason for this is the underlying geology, explains Gregory.
Based on conservative assumptions, which
Resource Global Network
Wood has the capability to extract cobalt and nickel for purification and recovery using methods such as high pressure acid leaching (HPAL) or pressure oxidation (POX). The extracted solution can be used for final products such as LME grade A cathode or intermediates such as mixed hydroxide (MHP), mixed sulphide (MSP), or cobalt and nickel sulphate crystal products. www.woodplc.com
allow for just 73% of the cobalt metal and
“For example, the scoping study was done
21.5% of nickel metal to be recovered
on a long-term cobalt price of US$72,000 per
through Barra’s process, the study concluded
tonne. Recently it has risen to about $90,000
that Mt Thirsty can deliver a healthy net
per tonne and if projected forward the NPV
present value (NPV) of $290 million.
increases to around $500 million.
“We think we can significantly optimise those
“As the cobalt price rises further still, the
recoveries in the upcoming pre-feasibility
economics of the project are just going to get
study and indeed all variables in the PFS
better and better. Critically, this surge in NPV
will be optimised to improve the already
is achieved without adjusting any other key
attractive economics,” claims Gregory.
variables such as recoveries and nickel price,” he adds.
Separating Barra’s future revenue streams off all profits will come from cobalt, with the
A charged-up cobalt market
balance of 16% from nickel. Therefore, a key
Nowadays it is common knowledge that
aspect to consider is the extent to which the
cobalt is one of the key components in
from the Mt Thirsty project reveals that 84%
project is heavily geared towards leveraging a rechargeable batteries in a multitude of cobalt price hike.
modern consumer products, from laptops to smartphones and electric vehicles (EVs).
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MINING | Barra Resources As such, around half of the world’s cobalt production supplies the battery market. However, while the burgeoning battery market is certainly sweetening the deal for cobalt producers there remains 34 other industrial uses for cobalt, including in jet engines, hard alloys and ceramics. All things considered cobalt is already one of the most in-demand commodities in the world, and now the EV story is upon us. “Every major commentator is forecasting a rapid uptake in EVs as we reach price parity for ownership of an EV versus a petrol vehicle.” Gregory refers to a recent study in the Journal of Applied Energy which identified that price parity between EVs and petrol vehicles on a total cost of ownership basis has already been reached in the US, UK and Japan. “We see a major structural shift in front of us and that is manifesting itself in higher prices for cobalt,” he deduces. “On the supply side, 97% of all cobalt is a by-product of nickel and copper mines. Now as cobalt prices go up, the nickel and copper mines aren’t necessarily incentivised to start new mines.”
ResourceGlobal GlobalNetwork Network 133 Resource But, being a true cobalt project with nickel
Along with its 50:50 joint venture partner,
credits, Mt Thirsty is one of a limited number
fellow WA-based mining outfit Conico,
of projects being mobilised that can respond
Barra is charging into work on the PFS and
to this demand increase. “We see that those
expects to publish the study by the end of
simple supply-demand dynamics are going
the year, although Gregory stresses that the
to push the cobalt price higher going into the
company is taking a meticulous approach
future.”
to ensure maximum value is extracted for shareholders.
Another potential value-adding element down the line for Barra stems from the fact
The JV has been on foot for many years
that Mt Thirsty is located in the safe and
now and operates very effectively, he adds.
ethical mining jurisdiction of WA. The same
However, it’s also worth noting that while the
statement cannot be routinely applied to the
project already has a long 21-year mine life,
DRC’s industry, which supplies roughly 56% of additional tonnages from the deposit exist the world’s cobalt.
outside of Barra and Conico’s acreage and are owned by Galileo Mining, who recently
Of that percentage, around 20% comes from
floated on the ASX at a significant premium.
artisanal mines, where serious concerns have been raised regarding human rights abuses,
“The present ownership structure really puts
child labour and low industrial standards.
the opportunity in front of us for a regional development story and for some cooperation
“The intelligence that we are getting is that battery manufacturers are prepared to pay a premium for material that is sustainably sourced. We can certainly guarantee that from WA, we’ve got a well-established mining jurisdiction and very high environmental standards.”
in the region.
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MINING | Barra Resources
“If you were to pick two commodities that people would like to invest in, certainly gold and cobalt would be close to the top of most investor’s lists” Sean Gregory, managing director and CEO
Resource Global Network “I’m now calling the region ‘cobalt valley’, based on the number of high quality players involved there and the opportunities available to develop a significant industrial centre for cobalt production.”
Old but gold Gold has been a staple of WA’s mining industry since the very beginnings of the trade at the end of 19th century. Barra’s current gold portfolio is comprised of a brownfields asset in the shape of the Burbanks project and a greenfields deposit named Phillips Find, both of which are located around Coolgardie. The Burbanks mining centre was first mined in 1885 and over 420,000 ounces of gold have been produced from the centre ever since. “We have a resource in the ground of 95,000 ounces and our geologists have identified an exploration target of 223,000-564,000 ounces. “Based on that tremendous potential, we really think it is a fantastic investment for a relatively low cost to continue to explore that project and build on those ounces to add value.” While the company has decided to limit its near-term activity across the gold portfolio so as not to distract from the cobalt project, it does hope to grow its existing gold resources and add value via some modest exploration expenditure.
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MINING | Barra Resources
“We have just announced the very positive
Barra will now move on to test other
results of a drill programme at Main Lode
targets at Burbank including Kangaroo Hills
within the Burbanks project, which has
along with targets at Phillips Find. “We are
significantly expanded the strike length of the
confident that by backing our geologists with
mineralisation out to 650 metres and is the
modest investment in gold exploration they
first step towards realising our exploration
will do their work and steadily build that
target.”
resource base.”
Resource Global Network which will be delivered by safety-focused contractor Egan Drilling. Meanwhile, on the cobalt front investors can expect swift progression through the studies, with the PFS next off the list. After an extensive tendering process Barra selected Amec Foster Wheeler, a subsidiary of global engineering house the Wood group, to undertake the main body of the PFS along with engineering and metallurgical testwork. They will be supported by Snowden Mining Consultants in mine planning, Golder Associates in many technical areas and Talis Environmental Consultants. In the medium term, Barra is beginning to assess downstream partnership opportunities for its cobalt product, particularly with companies in the battery manufacturing market. “We really see that the PFS should give the market a good baseline of the value of this project and we think it would be an appropriate time to bring in strategic partners to maximise value for our shareholders, who have been supporting us in moving the project through the development milestones.” Over the coming months, investors can expect a steady stream of news flow from the gold side of the business as the company invests in small-scale drilling programmes
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MINING | Black Rock Mining
BLAC K ROC Back on track at the Mahenge Graphite Project in Tanzania
Resource Global Network
CK M I N I NG
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MINING | Black Rock Mining
In November 2017 ASX-listed Black Rock Mining decided to reactivate its definitive feasibility study (DFS) for its flagship Mahenge Graphite Project in Tanzania – the fourth largest contained graphite resource in the world. The decision to reactivate the DFS was based on the company’s growing confidence in the prospect of a resolution to Tanzania’s recent travails in the mining sector, as it attempts to amend its mining code. For Black Rock, the resumption of its DFS has prompted a barrage of movement at the Mahenge development, including the commencement of a drilling campaign and a bulk sampling programme, which has now been shipped to Canada in preparation for a second pilot plant run. Meanwhile, vital environmental and social impact assessments have been initiated along with the resettlement framework development. The DFS will deliver a precise engineering “We reactivated the DFS and commenced
study that will help the company raise finance
drilling with the objective to complete the
for the project, and de Vries is convinced
metallurgical drill out and extract a bulk
that it is in safe hands after handing CPC
sample before the wet season broke, which
Engineering the contract for the study.
we achieved, on schedule and on budget,” says chief executive officer and managing
CPC is a supremely experienced outfit within
director John de Vries.
the mining services industry and also holds
Resource Global Network
the engineering contract for the comparable Balama graphite project in Mozambique,
The drill programme took place over
which is being advanced by Syrah Resources.
December and January and was conducted by a local group called MRCM Drilling, who
“With CPC on board, we have got what we
were able to complete the exercise before
think is the most current graphite CV on
the onset of the wet season, which was a
the planet and the experience needed to
major boon to Black Rock.
translate that CV into meaningful action on the ground.�
The upcoming second pilot plant run will
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MINING | Black Rock Mining use samples taken from the December and January campaign and aims to validate the design and vendor equipment, stress test the plant and ensure Black Rock fully understands variability and can deliver at customer specification at all times.
A world first result Meanwhile, the company also recently announced some astonishing processing results from the preceding pilot plant run, as the company delivered a world first 99%+ purity graphite concentrate in a conventional flotation circuit at scale. “We took 200 kg of concentrate and reprocessed it through an additional polishing stage within a closed circuit operation and from that we were able to upgrade the concentrate from a purity grading from 97.5% to 99.5% with zero loss of graphite.� This result pushes the processed concentrate into the ultra grade bracket (99%), up from the premium grade (97.5%), and allows Black Rock to conduct meaningful discussions with potential customers having qualified its product in the pilot study. In addition to the industry-leading purity grade achieved in the pilot, de Vries is also pleased with the minimal flake degradation that occurred during the additional polishing, with 55% of the ultra grade concentrate remaining in the large or jumbo size fraction. The pilot plant was conducted at the Lakefield laboratory in Canada by SGS – the
Resource Global Network
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MINING | Black Rock Mining
best in-class product certification company
The long-term fate of the Mahenge project is
according to de Vries - which adds another
dependent on the success of the first module,
layer of credibility to the results and an
as the cash flow generated from that phase
extra degree of clarity to discussions with
will contribute towards the construction of
customers in need of a regular, premium or
the following two phases under the crawl,
ultra grade concentrate.
walk, run strategy. Therefore, validation of the design through the second pilot plant
After the success of the first pilot plant run,
study is essential.
Black Rock is on track to proceed with the second pilot plant in Q3, which is going to
“The second pilot plant also lets us take
be even more revealing as it incorporates a
meaningful volumes of material to various
design laid out in the DFS.
vendors for testing and we can come back at that point with performance warranties from
“The second pilot plant is going test and
the vendors. It’s a pragmatic commercial
validate critical elements of that design
strategy as well.”
before we build it. We want to go modular in the field, which means we need a high degree
Working with Tanzania
of confidence the thing is going to work when
Furthermore, the miner has commenced
we turn it on.”
environmental and social risk assessments
ResourceGlobal GlobalNetwork Network 145 Resource
which form a vital part of the mining license
together to deliver that,” he proposes.
application to the Tanzanian government, which is proving to be a delicate matter.
“It’s about transparency. If you can be transparent, clear and articulate in what
The company’s CEO admits that the recent
you are trying to achieve and find a way to
shift in the stance of the authorities towards
enshrine that into a code of practise, I think
foreign mining firms has added further
that’s good for everybody and that is what we
difficulty to the application process, but de
are trying to do.”
Vries remains confident that the licence is still well within reach.
In order to demonstrate the company’s willingness to work closely with the Tanzanian
Black Rock is one of the first companies that
authorities and integrate into existing state
will comply with new mining bills that were
structures, Black Rock chose to ship the 530
signed into law by President John Magufuli
tonnes bulk sample of concentrate via rail
last year. The laws require the government to
from Ifakara to the port of Dar es Salaam,
own at least a 16% stake in mining projects.
ahead of its export to Canada.
“Let’s look at what government’s objectives
“That’s a very clear demonstration of our
are from the license and see if we can work
intention to engage with Tanzania, our
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MINING | Black Rock Mining
Resource Global Network
147
“We reactivated the DFS and commenced drilling with the objective to complete the metallurgical drill out and extract a bulk sample before the wet season broke, which we achieved� John de Vries, CEO & MD
Resource Global Network
intention to learn how to do things, and also
observed a growing number of questions
to roll our sleeves up and get on with the
around the ‘tipping point’ for the EV market.
job. If we are creating jobs, engaging with the existing systems, and not trying to duplicate
At what point does it make economic sense
or usurp anybody’s rights or obligations, it’s
for an internal combustion engine to be
not a bad position to work from.”
replaced either by a plug-in hybrid or by
The tipping point
and all-out battery vehicle? Black Rock’s CEO believes the combination of falling battery
The growing electric vehicle (EV) industry is
costs and diminishing supply bottlenecks in
an area of significant interest for Black Rock
lithium and cobalt production are bringing
due to the fact that every KWh battery used
the fabled tipping point ever closer.
to power EVs requires 1 kg of spheronised graphite. In recent months, de Vries has
“Add in some economies of scale and you can
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MINING | Black Rock Mining
imagine how quickly the cost of a lithium-ion
the importance of which have been grimly
battery is going to drop and we are going to
underlined by the recent tragedy of the
rapidly transition to EVs.
Grenfell tower fire in London.
“Plus, if you consider how that ties in with
In the aftermath of the fire, a strong degree
autonomous vehicles, I think there is a
of pressure has been applied towards
perfect storm beginning to brew around level
building contractors to ensure materials are
5 autonomy vehicles and the role of an EV in
adequately flame-retardant, with expanded
that autonomy.”
graphite’s anti-flame propagation properties making it an essential material applied to
It’s not just the burgeoning autonomous and
building cladding.
EV markets that are uplifting the prospects of major graphite producers. There are also a
Black Rock is on track to publish its all-
plethora of expanded graphite applications,
important DFS for the Mahenge project by
Resource Global Network
John de Vries - CEO & MD of Black Rock Mining around the third quarter of 2018, at which
pragmatic approach to risk management is
point it will be able to proceed with a detailed
giving Black Rock confidence that a pathway
front end engineering design (FEED). The DFS
to funding will emerge, says de Vries.
will also be the final document in the mining license application.
FEED is likely to be completed by the end of the year, and then the company has only
Once the license is approved, the company
a 12-month construction run left on the
will look to secure project finance. The
schedule before production at Mahenge
company is making solid progress with
begins in earnest in late 2019.
regards to reopening Tanzania and its
ASX:BKT
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MINING | CPC Engineering
CPC Engineering
World-leading expertise in graphite processing
Resource Global Network
155
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MINING | CPC Engineering
CPC Engineering is a leading mid-tier provider of engineering design, construction and maintenance services to the mineral resources sector. First established in 1970, the company commenced operations from a workshop in Western Australia with the original owners identifying a market niche for mine and engineering services. Over the coming decades, CPC cultivated its skills and today provides an entire service for mining projects, including comprehensive multi-disciplinary engineering and project management for surface and underground mining operations. CPC’s chief executive officer Glen Weir says the company is committed to forming longterm relationships with their clients by engaging in an open and honest manner and delivering on promises. “Our business relies heavily on our ability to provide our services in a safe, cost effective and efficient manner. Our hallmark is to deliver on our promises,” he says. To me, that means performing our respective tasks and following our processes and systems and doing things safely every time.” The company’s services range from supporting the initial concept and feasibility
Resource Global Network
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MINING | CPC Engineering
stage through to project management and
the development and engineering design
project execution. The CPC team is well
of graphite projects, with vast operational
placed to provide high quality, cost effective
experience in the material handling and
solutions that assist in achieving successful
processing aspects unique to graphite.
projects. Processing of graphite requires specialist CPC has developed an extensive footprint
knowledge as it often behaves in ways unlike
across greenfield and brownfield mining
most other metals and minerals. Therefore,
sites around the world, most of which are
CPC’s understanding of the product
found in Australia and Africa although it is
requirements for industry applications, such
also working with partners based in South
as battery anodes, is particularly valuable to
America, Scandinavia and India to name a
firms with graphite mines.
few. Most recently, CPC Project Design (the The services provider works across multiple
company’s multidisciplinary engineering
commodities but is highly experienced in
design, procurement, construction and
Resource Global Network Kevin Horsley, project manager at the Balama Graphite Project, has no hesitation in recommending CPC for its engineering design, procurement and project management services. “CPC’s experienced and quality team showed all the capabilities needed to handle a project the magnitude and complexity of Balama.” Staying in Africa, the company was appointed to deliver the Definitive Feasibility Study on the Mahenge Graphite project in Tanzania, after supporting Black Rock Mining in a 90 tonnes pilot plan run at SGS Lakefield in Canada. Black Rock`s CEO and MD John de Vries commented: “Securing the services of CPC Project Design is important, as they bring highly valued experience given their involvement in Syrah’s Balama Project, a wealth of recent graphite and African project management company) completed
experience, and the can-do approach of a
work on the Balama Graphite Project in
mid-tier firm.”
Mozambique. CPC has consistently proven its world-leading CPC delivered a feasibility study, Front End
capabilities in the design and construct of
Engineering Design (FEED), procurement,
graphite processing plants and continues
construction and commissioning for its
to work closely with its existing clients.
partner Syrah Resources’ two million tonnes
The company is looking to support new
per annum processing facility, which is a
clients who need to vertically integrate their
factor of four to five times bigger than other
processing of graphite for the emerging
Western production facilities.
battery minerals market.
j
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MINING | Prospect Resources
Resource Global Network
PROSPECT RESOURCES
Advancing the 2nd largest JORC compliant hard rock lithium resource in Africa
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MINING | Prospect Resources
Prospect Resources is the brainchild of experienced mining executives Hugh Warner and Harry Greaves. The pair formulated a vision to list an Africa-focused mining company on the ASX that would utilise Warner’s vast previous experience as a director of many publicly listed companies along with the localised knowledge of Greaves and his team of Zimbabwean miners involved in various mining assets. It was soon decided that Prospect would initially focus on Zimbabwe, a country with many strong potential mining projects and bags of untapped skills according to Greaves, yet its mineral resources sector has invariably suffered in the past due to a lack of access to capital markets and political instability. However, under the co-guidance of executive chairman Warner, Prospect was listed on the ASX, and the first step of his and Greaves’ plan was realised. In the first couple of years after its listing, Prospect began building a portfolio of gold assets in Zimbabwe but didn’t establish a flagship asset until lithium started to become an increasingly compelling mineral across the investment market.
Resource Global Network At this point the firm began to evaluate a number of potential lithium assets before determining that the Arcadia Lithium Project, a hard rock deposit comprised of spodumene and petalite ore located on the outskirts of Harare, held the most potential. When Prospect acquired the project in mid-2016, it gained access to historical information relating to previous activity at the site, which revealed that the UK Atomic Energy Association completed limited mining of part of the resource dating back to the 1950s and 60s. From this material, the company formulated an initial resource target of 15-18 million tonnes at 3% lithium, ahead of a scoping study at the end of 2016 and pre-feasibility study in June 2017. To say that initial expectations were exceeded by the results of these studies is an understatement.
A globally significant resource “When we started rolling out the drilling programme we discovered what we call the lower main pegmatite, which does not appear to have been previously known about or explored,” says Greaves. “That has pushed us up to a total resource of 72 million tonnes, making Arcadia the sixth biggest lithium hard rock project in the world.” Blowing initial expectations out of the water would be a more appropriate way to describe the results of Prospect’s phased drilling programme.
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MINING | Prospect Resources
After continued updates were made to the
Prospect, none more so than its location just
mineral resource estimate over 2017, the
38 km East of the capital Harare.
current estimate for the Arcadia project makes it Africa’s 2nd largest JORC compliant
“We’ve got bitumen roads within 15 km of
lithium resource and one of the most globally
the project. We have abundant water and
significant lithium assets.
power on site and we’ve got a large welltrained and educated labour force in close
In addition to the sheer size of the resource,
proximity. In terms of location we are very
there are a number of other key elements
well suited to getting into production quickly
of the project that are working in favour of
and profitably.”
Resource Global Network
In addition, the project economics are also
Operating in Zimbabwe is a prospect
looking increasingly attractive for Prospect.
that would raise the eyebrows of many
There is no need to construct a big mining
experienced heads in the mining industry,
village or build any major roads and the only
bearing in mind the Southern African nation’s
planned infrastructural work is the repair of
increasingly beleaguered-looking economy
around 16 km of gravel road for the haulage
of late and the significant shift in the political
of concentrate through Goromonzi district
landscape that took place late last year.Â
towards the main arterial road leading to the Beira port in Mozambique.Â
However, in a stark contrast to many reports of business dealings in Zimbabwe, Greaves
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MINING | Prospect Resources happily reveals that from the very first
to Greaves. “We are currently witnessing
moment Prospect signed the deal for the
extraordinary levels of cooperation,” he
Arcadia project, the authorities have been
reveals.
nothing short of fantastic in helping the company advance its asset.
“In all my experience of mining in Zimbabwe for 20 years, I’ve never seen a situation where
“We secured the project at the end of May
the entire hierarchy of the ministry of mines
2016 and had drills turning within 30 days.
are available at any time to take a call and
We also declared our MRE (mineral resource
their question
to us is always: How
estimation) within four months and all
can we assist
you to expedite this
regulatory approvals were handled very
project into
production?”
professionally and very quickly.”
‘Extraordinary levels of cooperation’ Moreover, since the change of government in Zimbabwe in November 2017, the operating environment has further improved, according
He goes on
to explain how
the ministry
expedited the
process of
changing claims
into a mining
lease, is assisting
ResourceGlobal GlobalNetwork Network 169 Resource the company with bringing in a bigger power
Zimbabwe’s Minister for Mines and Mining
line to the project and is working very closely
Development Winston Chitando to see first-
with Prospect to get the site designated as
hand how Prospect is delivering battery
a Special Economic Zone, for to the second
grade lithium carbonate.
phase of the project which will deliver a lithium chemical plant adjacent to the
The key reasons behind Prospect building a
existing site.
lithium carbonate pilot are two-fold. One is to demonstrate its commitment to providing
In February 2018, Prospect commissioned a
greater beneficiation to the government
lithium carbonate pilot plant located in the
of Zimbabwe. Two is to provide greater
city of Kwekwe, which was recently visited by
profitability margins for the company. “We will initially be exporting 240,000 tonnes of concentrate primarily to China and a lot of that is just rocks going on holiday,” Greaves quips. “With a chemical plant we gain the ability to turn that concentrate into lithium carbonate in-country,
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MINING | Prospect Resources
which it is much more profitable and an
to be available right through the construction
important beneficiation process.”
and will then roll some of those people into
Better returns for country and company
the production phase too. “We can also pull in some of the skilled
The pilot plant was designed and built locally,
people out of the city as we are in such close
which is a strong indicator of Prospect’s faith
proximity to Harare,” Greaves adds.
in the skills and expertise of Zimbabweans and also shows the potential for economic
So far, the pilot plant has successfully
benefits to be shared within the country
processed petalite concentrates into 99.5%
when it comes to building a full-scale
lithium carbonate, which is a significant
carbonate plant.
result for Prospect particularly as it looks to secure future customers for its battery-grade
In the long term, Prospect will create
lithium.
between 250 and 300 direct jobs within the local community in Phase 1 of the project
“We are working on some additional steps in
and around the same in Phase 2, while in
the process now which makes us believe we
the short term a significant amount of heavy
can get much higher grades than 99.5%, and
labour jobs will be available as the project
that is the benefit of having a pilot plant.”
moves into construction.
Arcadia’s first customer
“We are working very closely with our local
Prospect has already secured an exciting
communities to make sure that where the
seven-year offtake agreement with Chinese
skills are appropriate, the communities will
company Sinomine, who have a strong
benefit. We will be training a lot of those folk
footprint across Southern Africa with stakes
Resource Global Network
in mining ventures in Zambia and the DRC, as
for the official opening of the mine, with first
well as having access to a lithium carbonate
production slated for Q2 of 2019.
facility in China. Looking beyond the near-term, Prospect has “They have a lot of skills themselves which we
a pipeline of gold projects in Zimbabwe that
will be leveraging off and they have agreed
pre-date the Arcadia project, which are set to
to buy 70% of our product for the next seven
be revisited by the company in the coming
years.
months.
“We are in advanced discussions with three
In addition, the company is exploring various
other potential offtake partners and are very
opportunities across Southern Africa for
confident that we will close out the remaining
several high demand commodities, including
offtake very shortly. There is strong interest
copper-cobalt deposits in the DRC as well
in our spodumene and petalite concentrates,
as various opportunities in Zambia and
as well as the very keen interest in our
Mozambique.
carbonate plans too.” “At the moment our geological team is Prospect has commenced the construction
extremely busy with additional projects
phase of its flagship Arcadia Lithium
across the continent. We would like to keep
Project and is waiting to hear back from the
the company growing very rapidly in the next
President of Zimbabwe with regards to a date
five to 10 years,” concludes Greaves.
ASX:PSC
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APPOINTMENTS & EVENTS
APPOINTMENTS Arc Minerals appoints former Rio Tinto boss as new director Former head of mining operations at Rio Tinto Don Bailey has been appointed director of AIM-listed firm Arc Minerals, effective from June 1st 2018. Arc said his primary responsibility will be to lead the development of Zamsort’s commercial-scale copper-cobalt demonstration plant in Zambia. Nick von Schirnding, executive chairman of Arc, said: “Since late last year I have been working closely with Don and I have been greatly impressed by his drive and energy.”
Energy consultancy Xodus Group elevates Peter Tipler to renewables director International energy consultancy Xodus Group has appointed Peter Tipler as its renewables director to help drive growth. Tipler has worked across several roles in the company’s renewable energy, environment and decommissioning divisions over a 10-year spell. “I’m honoured and hope my experience and knowledge of the projects over the years will allow Xodus to build up the capabilities across the renewables industry,” said Tipler.
Tullow Oil makes Dorothy Thompson new chairperson Tullow Oil has confirmed that Dorothy Thompson will step into the shoes of founder Aidan Heavey as chairperson, following a board meeting on July 20th. Thompson’s previous experience includes a 12-year spell as chief executive of oil and gas firm Drax Group, along with management roles at InterGen and PowerGen. “I am delighted that Dorothy Thompson is joining Tullow and I wish her well as she takes on her new responsibilities,” said Heavey.
Jakob Stausholm to succeed Chris Lynch as CFO at Rio Tinto Rio Tinto has appointed Jakob Stausholm as its new chief financial officer (CFO), succeeding Chris Lynch in the role. Stausholm has over 20 years’ experience working in senior finance roles in Europe, Latin America and Asia and was Group CFO and an executive director of A.P. Moeller – Maersk A/S. Rio Tinto chief executive J-S Jacques said: “I am delighted Jakob is joining Rio Tinto and I look forward to working closely with him as we continue to deliver superior returns to our shareholders.”
Resource Global Network 175
EVENTS Our pick of the top mining, oil & gas and renewable energy events happening around the world in the months to come
World Nuclear Association Symposium September 5-7 London UK Mining and Exploration International Conference and Expo September 6-8 Las Vegas Nevada International Conference on Artisanal and Small-scale Mining & Quarrying September 11-13 Livingstone Zambia Wind Energy Hamburg September 25-28 Hamburg Germany International Mining & Resources Conference (IMARC) October 29 – 01 November Melbourne Australia Want to promote your resources event? Email the editor at editorial@resourceglobalnetwork.com
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