Pretoria - Nkomati Mine, a nickel mine consisting of both open pit and underground operations located between Machadodorp and Badplaas in Mpumalanga, has on Wednesday pledged its support for the 49M campaign.
The 49M energy efficiency movement was launched in March 2011 by Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe and Minister of Public Enterprises, Malusi Gigaba. It encourages individuals and businesses to lead energy-smart lifestyles, to save power, save the planet and save their pockets.
Since the establishment of the 49M initiative, many big companies have been signing a pledge committing themselves to using energy efficiently and educating their employees on efficient energy use.
Speaking at the pledge-signing ceremony, Mandla Nxumalo General Manager of Nkomati Mine said the mine was fully behind the 49M initiative. He said one of the core values of the mine was to care for the environment and using energy efficiently was a large part of that.
“To be true to that commitment of taking care of the environment, Nkomati is currently busy with an Environmental Impact Assessment for a 1MW AC photovoltaic plant. This plant will assist the mine to generate a small portion of its electricity requirement using natural resources.
“This plant will reduce the amount of energy drawn from the Eskom grid, which is in line with the country’s vision of increasing independent generation of power,” added Nxumalo.
Nkomati Mine, which recently completed a major expansion programme, will become one of the largest open pit operations in southern Africa with a life of mine of approximately 20 years.
Nxumalo said the mine had committed itself to reducing its current energy consumption through a number of initiatives such as the construction of the Process Plants which have been designed in a manner that makes them highly energy efficient.
Some of the energy-saving initiatives include replacing geysers with heat pumps in all change houses, installing LED lights in all overland conveyor belts and stopping some of the operations like the crusher during peak consumption periods to alleviate the energy demand on the Eskom system.
Algie Kiewitz, General Manager Top Customer Front Office at Eskom, said with the mining industry being one of the biggest consumers of electricity, Eskom was delighted that Nkomati Mine would be implementing measures that will contribute to the reduction of energy consumption within its business to help alleviate the load on the country’s power system.
“We are happy that they have associated themselves with 49M at a time when every intervention is needed given the energy challenges of our time,” he said.
Nxumalo said the mine would also create awareness about energy efficiency in the local community. – SAnews.gov.za
