Page 16 - AfrElec Week 19 2022
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AfrElec RENEWABLES AfrElec
South Africa’s ‘first
of its kind’ solar plant
commissioned at gold mine
SOUTH AFRICA LONDON- and Johannesburg-listed gold miner scheduled to be constructed in the next two
Pan African Resources has commissioned a years,” Loots said.
$9.4mn, 10MW solar plant at its Evander Gold During construction, the services of 10 local
Mine, in South Africa. contractor companies were utilised, which pro-
The investment at the mine’s Elikhulu sur- vided 202 temporary local job opportunities,
face treatment site west of Johannesburg is “the Mining Review Africa writes. The jobs and skills
first of its kind to be commissioned by a mine in developed during construction will be retained
the country”, London-based Mining Magazine for Evander Gold Mine’s underground renewa-
reports, citing a company statement. ble energy 12MW expansion phase.
The photovoltaic (PV) plant will provide 30% Apart from using local contractors for clean-
of power required for its Elikhulu surface retreat- ing and maintenance of the solar panels, the
ment operations and reduce electricity costs. company is investigating implementation of
Sourcing electricity is increasingly becoming agriculture projects at the facility expected to
a top priority for miners in South Africa, given create sustainable local employment opportu-
the country’s regular load-shedding (rolling nities and maximise land utilisation at Evander
blackouts). Gold Mine’s solar PV facility.
“In addition to carbon dioxide emission Meanwhile, Pan African Resources has com-
reductions, the PV plant has the added benefits pleted the first phase of its share buyback pro-
of providing a secure and stable power supply, gramme as announced on April 1. The company
while at the same time ensuring we manage has repurchased 11,825,491 ordinary shares of
future cost pressures resulting from above-in- £0.01 pence each in the company for a total con-
flation electricity tariffs,” chief executive Cobus sideration of ZAR 50.3mn ($3.1mn).
Loots said. “A total of 7,568,744 ordinary shares
The Evander energy facility has 26,640 solar have been bought back on the London Stock
modules sitting on 20.1 hectares. Exchange at a volume weighted average price
Pan African is completing a feasibility study of 21.67 pence per share,” the company said in a
to expand the plant to 12MW, which will power May 12 statement.
underground growth projects at the same mine. “A total of 4,256,747 ordinary shares have
Construction on the underground expansion been bought back on the Johannesburg Stock
will begin in 2023. Exchange at a volume weighted average price
The Johannesburg-headquartered company of 418.21 South African cents per share. All
is also planning to build an 8MW solar PV plant shares purchased under the Programme have
at its Barberton mines in 2023 and researching been cancelled. The company therefore has
battery storage options. 2,222,862,046 ordinary shares of £0.01 each in
“We will continue with energy independence issue, of which 306,358,058 ordinary shares are
and decarbonisation initiatives at all our oper- held in treasury.”
ations, with another 20MW of solar capacity
P16 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 19 12•May•2022
