Fiji's Largest Undeveloped Gold Project Gets a Solar Hybrid Plant

The Tuvatu Gold Project is one of the highest-grade gold projects in the world. Located on the South Pacific island of Viti Levu in Fiji, the site may hold more than 2.5 million tons of resource in the veins of the collapsed Navilawa volcano. The project is fully owned and permitted, with clearing for construction of the surface infrastructure underway. A key part of that infrastructure will be a hybrid solar-diesel power plant. Vancouver-based Lion One Metals is partnering with Swiss clean energy firm meeco group to construct the plant, which they estimate will produce more than 10 GWh of solar power.

FINANCING TUVATU’S HYBRID PLANT

meeco will provide the initial capital financing for the hybrid power plant, reducing Lion One’s upfront capital. “That will provide the power for the entire mine on an across-the-fence basis,” Lion One Managing Director Stephen Mann explains. “Having meeco design, construct, and operate the power plant significantly de-risks the power supply at Tuvatu for Lion One by partnering with a solid company with specific expectations for solar power.”

Ultimately, Lion One will own 50 percent of the power plant, with meeco owning the other half. Lion One’s power cost will be the same as using diesel gensets for the initial five to six years of operation, as the company applies the cost reduction that solar generation will provide to paying meeco back for its share of the capital financing.

Mann says. “And hopefully, the power plant will help other groups in the community in the long term.”

It’s not the first time that people from these two companies have worked together. A local meeco agent had previously done some consulting work for Lion One. When the agent approached the miner about building a solar hybrid plant for Tuvatu, Lion One saw an opportunity to reduce its carbon footprint in the short term and trim operating costs in the longer term.

“Overall, it helps us become more environmentally friendly. And on top of that, obviously we’re going to be reducing our costs, and, potentially, improve our ability to supply power to other places in the region,” Mann says.

REDUCING LION ONE’S CARBON FOOTPRINT

At full production, a traditional approach to power generation at Tuvatu would have required about a million litres of diesel per month. The solar panels will reduce diesel use by 25 to 30 percent, depending on weather. Based on an estimated annual energy production of 10.31 GWh, solar generation will displace more than 6,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions per year.

PROJECT TIMELINE

While a firm date hasn’t been set, Mann says that the power plant will likely be completed in 2020. There are still details to finalize, such as access to native land. Because the plant will be situated four kilometers away from the mining operation, Lion One is negotiating access to ground for the plant itself, and also for installing the power line to the mine site.

“The landowners have been very supportive of the project, as has the government,” Mann shares. “So we’re quite positive from that point of view that we can move forward really quickly, but there’s still a process to go through to make sure we get it all right.”

However, it will probably be another two years before the infrastructure is in place and the mine begins to produce gold. Lion One is currently nearing contract awards for its prime mining contractor, equipment suppliers, and EPC contractor.

In the meantime, the company is exploring the surrounding geology. Its exploration licenses cover the entire Navilawa volcano. The process facility will be ready to handle the throughput. Designed to run aroundthe-clock, it has been upgraded to produce 1,000 tonnes per day, or over 320,000 tonnes per year. Ultimately, Lion One aims to build production of 100,000 oz. of gold per year at the site over ten years.

“We’re aggressively advancing to production and have progressed significantly in recent months on preparation of the mill site and infrastructure,” Lion One Chief Development Officer Ian Chang stated. “We remain focused on delivering Fiji’s next high-grade, underground gold mining operation while continuing to qualify the upside of Tuvatu’s district-scale exploration opportunity.”