PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Gold miner AngloGold Ashanti has inked an infrastructure agreement with natural gas infrastructure group APA Group for the transportation of natural gas to the Sunrise Dam and Tropicana gold mines, in Western Australia.
APA would construct a new 292 km pipeline which would connect its Goldfields Gas Pipeline through the lateral pipeline at the Murrin Murrin nickel mine, and extend it past Sunrise Dam to Tropicana.
Construction would start in February next year, and first gas at Tropicana was expected in January 2016.
The pipeline and associated infrastructure would be constructed for a total capital cost of A$140-million.
“Gas power generation is expected to reduce cash operating costs at both sites between A$25/oz and A$30/oz,” said AngloGold Ashanti senior VP for Australia Michael Erickson.
“The pipeline and gas transportation agreement will also provide continuity of fuel supply, reduce exposure to diesel price volatility and significantly reduce the number of trucks on the road, which has an important safety benefit, as well as reducing road maintenance costs.”
Erickson said that the natural gas was also a cleaner fuel and its use would reduce greenhouse-gas emissions at both mines.
The power stations at Sunrise Dam and Tropicana would be modified in order to run on natural gas, with diesel to be used as a backup facility.