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Miner contributes to achieving net zero economy

23rd September 2022

     

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Environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) is embedded into gold miner Harmony Gold’s business strategy to earn credibility, remain competitive and contribute to achieving a net-zero economy, says sustainability group executive Melanie Naidoo-Vermaak.

With the urgency of decarbonising the global economy, leadership organisation the International Council on Mining and Metals has put the spotlight on the mining industry's decarbonisation and sustainable development efforts to aid in achieving net zero.

“Sustainability is the driving force of our business” says Naidoo-Vermaak.

Sustainable development is covered by the first pillar of Harmony Gold’s strategy which is an all-encompassing risk-based strategy based on responsible stewardship.

Naidoo-Vermaak says, with ‘responsible stewardship’ as the first of four strategic pillars, Harmony has been proactively positioning itself to address climate change since 2010.

“As a socially and ecologically conscious miner, we are committed to ‘ecologically responsible’ mining to contribute to a low-carbon future and create a lasting positive legacy,” she says.

Harmony Gold is pursuing an aggressive renewable-energy roll-out plan to decarbonise its mines to net zero by 2045. Phase 1 was initialised with an independent power producer (IPP) for the construction of three renewable solar photovoltaic (PV) plants.

The plants will have a total installed capacity of 30 MW and will deliver more than 68 GWh of clean power to the Free State operations, mitigating 65 000 t of carbon dioxide emissions in its first 12 months of operation.

Harmony Gold expects 1.3 TWh of clean energy to be delivered from the plants over its 20-year life span, notes Naidoo-Vermaak.

“The plants rank among the largest solar PV plants for private offtake in South Africa to date and the first energy is expected to flow from the plants in March 2023.”

Naidoo-Vermaak adds that Harmony Gold plans to build an additional 137 MW of renewable energy at various long-life mines which will form part of Phase 2 of its renewable-energy programme.

Harmony Gold expects this initiative to deliver over R500-million a year in electricity cost-savings once it reaches full production by 2025.

“Renewables remain a substantial focus in the short and medium term,” says Naidoo-Vermaak.

Supporting Harmony Gold’s decarbonisation strategy are syndicated multi-tranche, multi-currency loan facilities of $400-million and R4-billion. The syndication was led by financial service providers Absa and Nedbank.

It includes a R1.5-billion loan for the production of Phase 2 projects as well as three sustainability-linked loans that are aligned with Harmony Gold’s ESG and sustainable development targets.

Further, Harmony Gold is exploring options for liquefied natural gas or synthesis gas and testing the market for implementing wind energy at its South African assets.

Alongside its investment in renewable energy and decarbonising assets, Harmony Gold is aware of the need to be efficient in energy consumption, Naidoo-Vermaak comments.

Harmony Gold’s energy efficiency initiatives focus on mine cooling, compressed air, water management and ventilation and the use of digital twins aid in driving these efficiencies.

Naidoo-Vermaak notes, total savings from the initiatives were R309-million for full-year 2021, of which R50-million originated from new projects.

To date, Harmony Gold has implemented over 200 energy efficiency initiatives at its operations, generating cumulative savings of about R1-billion.

“All these efforts indicate that Harmony Gold is committed to working with the government and other stakeholders to embark on a full decarbonisation path towards net zero. We ensure that the company contributes to the global climate-change effort,” says Naidoo-Vermaak.

Harmony Gold is a mining industry partner for the 2022 Joburg Indaba, which will take place on October 5 and 6.

Edited by Nadine James
Features Deputy Editor

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