HIGHLIGHTS: HIGH COST OF ENERGY A BARRIER TO EXPANSION OF MINING OPERATIONS, BUT WHILE CHALLENGING IN REMOTE AREAS RENEWABLE ENERGY LIKE SOLAR AND WIND HOLD PROMISE. CONOCOPHILLIPS EXPERIMENTING WITH ELECTRIC VEHICLES ON NORTH SLOPE. MODERATOR: JOE JACOBSEN, U.S. Dept. of Energy Loan Programs PANEL: n LOREN HILL, Manager of Innovation, Teck Alaska n SUNIL KUMAR, Principal Advisor, Energy Strategy, Kinross n JOHN LYONS, Operations Support Supervisor, ConocoPhillips Alaska KEY POINTS: n Mining operations are energy intensive n Renewable power can be challenging in remote locations n ConocoPhillips is testing electric vehicles on North Slope DISCUSSION: Loren Hill: Teck’s Red Dog Mine in Northwest Alaska is in a remote location, which makes substituting diesel power with renewable energy a challenge. Power is generated with diesel using about 15 million gallons a year. To date Teck has been able to reduce emissions from its power plant through waste heat utilization and by improvements in the efficiency of the ore processing mill, which reduces power consumption, Hill said. The company is exploring local wind and solar potential that could include a battery storage system with a micro-grid. “We’re excited about this. The pre-feasibility early results show that this could be competitive,” Hill said. “The solar resource is very seasonal up in the Arctic, but the wind resource is seasonal as well and the two end of being very complimentary, as the wind speeds are much higher in winter,” Hill said in a report by Nat Herz in his Northern Journal. However, “the Arctic, with permafrost, is also an expensive place to build the power lines and cables needed to connect wind and solar installations at their most productive locations back to the mine’s processing plant.” The integration of renewable power into Red Dog’s current system is made more complicated because power plant also provides heat to buildings at the mine, Hill said. It could be difficult to supply more than 20 percent to 30 percent of Red Dog’s energy needs with renewable energy. This isn’t Teck’s first experiments with a less-polluting alternative energy source at Red Dog. Several years ago, the company experimented with shale gas, or methane produced from shale formations in the area. Test drilling was even done. While shale gas with methane is not renewable like wind and solar it has a lower carbon intensity compared with burning diesel. Teck has a corporate goal of reaching net zero emissions by 2050. Sunil Kumar said that Teck, Kinross Gold wants to reach net zero emissions at a corporate level by 2050 but the company has limited options at its Fort Knox gold mine near Fairbanks because the mine is supplied by Golden Valley Electric Assoc., or GVEA, the local electric cooperative. Kinross is working closely with Golden Valley on its expansion of renewable power in its portfolio, which would indirectly reduce emissions from Fort Knox operations. As a large electric consumer, and GVEA’s biggest customer, Kinross LEADING THE WAY IN ENERGY TRANSITION 28 ALASKA RESOURCE REVIEW WINTER 2024
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTcxMjMwNg==