The mining industry uses three principal sources of energy: diesel, grid electricity and explosives. Diesel and electricity consumption contribute substantially to the mining industry’s GHG emissions. There has been a global shift in the mining industry to incorporate sustainability goals into business plans.
Strategies to reduce high energy consumption include moving towards renewable grid power, implementing renewable hybrid onsite microgrids, electrification of process equipment, and use of low-carbon mining equipment.
The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) provided grant funding for renewable projects under the Advancing Renewables Program. Gold Fields Australia secured an ARENA grant to invest in renewable energy microgrids at its Agnew gold mine in the Yilgarn region of Western Australia.
The Agnew gold mine was the first mine in Australia to be powered by a wind, solar, battery and gas microgrid. It is Australia’s largest hybrid renewable energy microgrid and the first in the country to use wind generation on a large scale at a mine site.
The microgrid has a 56 MW capacity and is expected to deliver 50-60% of the Agnew mine’s regular energy requirements and up to 85% during ideal conditions. It will reduce the mine’s carbon emissions by about 40,000 tonnes of CO2e per year.
Gold Fields is adopting innovative operational practices such as dynamic load shedding, renewable resource forecasting and IPP-controlled load management to maximise renewable energy use.
Gold Fields has started rolling out renewable energy grids and battery storage across its sites in Australia and Chile, including at Granny Smith in 2020, Gruyere and South Deeps in 2022, St Ives in 2023 and Salares Norte in 2024. The Agnew project paved the way for the adoption of renewable energy in the mining industry and provides a blueprint for other companies to deploy similar off-grid energy solutions.
