- Sibanye-Stillwater platinum group metal mines want to deploy green energy for their activities.
- The miner wants to install three solar PV projects.
- The group targets the completion of these projects in 2025.
Sibanye-Stillwater’s platinum group metal (PGM) mines in South Africa plans to deploy 174MW of clean energy to power mine operations. The miner plans to construct three projects; an 80MW plant within the Rustenburg Platinum Mines complex; a 65MW project colocated within the Karee complex to supply the K4 shaft, the K3 shaft as well as the K3 concentrator; and a 30MW PV project on the eastern portion of the footprint to inject power directly into the Roland smelter. The company estimates the total cost of the three projects at between R2.5-billion to R2.8-billion ($186 million).
According to the energy and decarbonisation head for Sibanye-Stillwater, Jevon Martin, the project will be funded via third-party power price agreement arrangements. Martin added that the projects would generate a significant net present value for these operations plus significant decarbonisation. It would also offset the liabilities of anticipated pending Scope 2 carbon taxes. “We are currently targeting financial close in the first half of 2023 and commercial operation in early 2025,” added Martin. Sibanye-Stillwater’s South African PGM operations make up 39 per cent (310MW) of the group’s energy demand.
The schedule for the project schedule is dependent on permitting processes. the company adds that it has already initiated the environmental impact assessment, the rezoning and the subdivision of land