B2Gold to generate own power

B2Gold Namibia, the developer of the Otjikoto Project, plans to construct and operate an on-site power plant as well as develop a landfill site on its mining site.
The developer of the Otjikoto Project, set to become the biggest gold mine in Namibia in terms of output, is in the process of conducting an Environmental Impact Assesment study for the power plant and landfill site which will cater for non-hazardous waste during the construction and operational phases.
The construction of the power plant is an amendment to the company’s 2012 EIA as it was previously described that the power will be supplied to the Otjikoto project via a 220kV overhead line through NamPower.
SLR Environmental Consulting, an independent firm of environmental consultants has been appointed to manage the EIA process.
The proposed power plant will operate on heavy fuel oil (HFO) as the primary fuel with diesel fuel oil as the secondary fuel. Approximately 22 000 tons of HFO and 500 tons of diesel fuel oil will be used per annum.
The power plant will be located in the process plant area and will have an output capacity of approximately 25 Megawatt. It will be operated 24 hours per day, 7 days a week. The HFO and diesel fuel oil will be stored in dedicated above-ground tanks at the same location as the power plant.
The landfill site will cater for inert, non-hazardous waste only and will be approximately 25 hectares in size and located between the process plant area and the tailings storage facility.
The materials placed in the landfill are expected to be primarily product packaging, wood products, organic materials, glass, plastics, metals and food scraps. Some of the combustible material may be burned within the landfill facility periodically to reduce the amount of material that is buried.
The facility will be operated in phases with only one or two sections of the facility open at any given time. The next section will only be opened when the previous one has almost reached its full capacity.
The proposed facility will be used during both the construction and operational phases of the mine.
Construction of the proposed landfill site and power plant will start on approval of the study. The landfill site will be constructed over a period of 2 months whereas the Power Plant will take approximately 12 months to construct.