Browsing: African Mines

Mining activities are some of the most power-intensive globally, with electricity required to operate haul trucks, earth-movers, underground excavators, blasting tools and mining drills accounting for up to 40% of a company’s total expenditures. Regionally, southern Africa is forecast to elicit some of the largest power requirements in mining on the continent – led by South Africa, Mozambique and Zambia – and followed by Central and West Africa. With COVID-19 leading to production site shutdowns, loss of output and volatile commodity prices, the ability to reduce operational expenditures – via electricity costs – has risen to the forefront of mining firms’ agendas.

And yet there are two major impediments to accessing sufficient quantities of low-cost electricity. First, Africa is home to some of the lowest electricity access rates globally, with a lack of infrastructure, unreliable grids and frequent blackouts posing a major threat to output and production efficiencies. The Democratic …