Kibali Gold Mine, a Barrick subsidiary in the DRC, has opted to build hydroelectric plants. To meet its energy requirement of 42 megawatts, this mining company has invested 207 million US dollars. This successful experiment was shared by Andy Sambwe, electrical engineer at Kibali, at the mining operators during the second panel of DRC Mining Week, Wednesday, June 19, 2019 in Lubumbashi.

Everything stems from the observation that mining companies have a very large and growing demand for energy while SNEL, a state-owned company, is not able to fill it. Hence the need for intermediate solutions that offers benefits to the mining industry.

« Underground mines require a constant availability of electrical energy. Hence the idea for Kibali to use hydroelectric plants in addition to thermal power plants to meet its energy needs evaluated at 42 megawatts. Because, with the thermal costs expensive because of the purchase of diesel », said Andy Sambwe.

To achieve this, Kibali Gold Mine has built three hydroelectric plants:
– The NZORO 2 power plant: built in 2012 and inaugurated in 2014 with a power of 22 megawatts on an investment of 100 million dollars.

– The Ambarau plant commissioned in 2017 with a power output of 10.7 MW with an investment of $ 57 million.

– The Azambi plant commissioned in 2018. If the first two were built by a French firm, Azambi was entirely built by the Congolese. It has a capacity of 10.3 MW with an investment of $ 50 million. To this we must add the NZORO 1 Power Plant that Kibali found on site.

The global investment of these power generation infrastructure has earned Kibali Gold Mine $ 207 million to not only close the 42 megawatt deficit but also a surplus of 2 megawatts.

« We do not intend to stop there. Two other plants are under construction. Because, the more the underground mines expect, the more energy needs increase », revealed Andy Sambwe.

This model hailed by some should be duplicated by other mining operators pending the materialization of the Inga 3 project.

Nadine FULA