Bellevue Gold Ltd (ASX:BGL) is set to become Australia’s first ASX-listed net-zero gold miner following the signing of an early works agreement for an industry-leading off-grid hybrid power station.
The agreement has been struck with Energy Developments Pty Ltd (EDL), a tier-one provider of sustainable distributed energy, for an off-grid hybrid power station to be built at Bellevue’s namesake gold project in Western Australia.
Renewable energy to power production
Bellevue has now secured the long-lead items required for the hybrid power station, which will enable the project to be powered by a forecast average of 80% renewable energy per annum.
The hybrid power solution will consist of wind and solar generation, as well as battery and thermal generation to supply the site’s power requirement of roughly 13 million watts.
This power station will enable the mine to have the lowest Scope-1 emissions of any major gold mine in Australia, providing the cleanest power on a greenhouse-gas-per-kilowatt hour basis.
The forecast emissions intensity of 0.15 tonnes of carbon per ounce (CO2e/oz) to 0.2 tonnes CO2e/oz will be the lowest of any major Australian gold mine.
As well as being the lowest emitter on a per-ounce basis, the project is forecast to have the lowest total scope 1 emissions of any major mine in Australia.
Cleanest power supply in Australia
This will give the project the cleanest power supply in Australia based on a greenhouse gas per kilowatt hour basis of power generation.
The hybrid power station will enable the project to operate on 100% renewable energy and ‘engines off’ mode.
Bellevue’s processing circuit has been designed to maximise the natural resources of wind and solar, providing a direct cost reduction and emission-free energy use, by time-shifting up to 1 million watts of power use to times of ample low-cost and zero-emission renewable energy.
EDL built, owns and operates a similar turnkey power solution at the Agnew gold mine around 35 kilometres south of the Bellevue Gold Project.
Bellevue and EDL are negotiating a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) for the project, which is subject to approval by the boards of both EDL and Bellevue.
Green gold advantage
The raft of sustainable initiatives Bellevue is introducing will help the company deliver carbon-neutral gold – a major competitive advantage in global investment markets.
This ushers in the potential for Bellevue to seek a premium for the sale of ‘green gold’.
The power station will prioritise the use of renewable energy and will also include a gas engine configuration, which will ensure there is always sufficient power for the mine, even in the rare absence of solar and wind resources.
EDL will supply trucked LNG to the Bellevue Gold Project to maintain optionality for any future technological innovations in thermal generation alternative fuels.
Importantly, trucked LNG provides a much cleaner fuel than diesel which was an important consideration to reduce emissions as far as possible.
Sustainable processing facility
Maximising renewable energy uptake has also been a key design consideration for the processing facility.
The facility will have the ability to use more power – such as crushing and heating – when increased renewable energy is available, reducing thermal requirements.
The designed infrastructure will allow Bellevue to have a cost-effective renewable energy supply and optimise the power demand curve to better align with key daytime (solar) and night-time (wind) energy peaks and troughs.
The planned infrastructure includes an oversized crushing circuit to facilitate a processing rate of more than 1.5 million tonnes per annum, against the current throughput rate of 1 million tonnes.
This allows operational flexibility in this area for an optimised match-up of the renewable energy demand to the renewable energy resource.
Through the generation of power from renewable energy sources, it will create the optionality for the crushing circuit to maximise crushing in peak renewable energy generation periods.
“Holy grail”
Bellevue managing director Steve Parsons said partner EDL had a highly successful track record of designing and implementing hybrid power station micro-grids across Australia.
“EDL is a leader in hybrid off-grid power stations,” Parsons said. “Their skills and experience will help ensure we maximise the use of renewable energy at the Bellevue Gold Project.
“Bellevue is forecasted to be a 200,000-ounce a year gold miner with low all-in sustaining costs of A$1,000- A$1,100/ou ce powered by ~80% renewable energy, with a pathway to net-zero emissions as a world-leading company in the race to decarbonise the mining sector.
“Our pre-production carbon mitigation strategy has been strategic and is world-leading. It achieves the ‘holy grail’ of lower emissions and a direct cost reduction in power generation.
“The combination of these metrics is expected to will position Bellevue as one of the most sustainable and financially successful Australian gold miners, maximising returns for all stakeholders.
“It will also underpin the company’s strong appeal to global investors, who demand performance on both financial and ESG measures.”