PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Copper developer Orion Minerals is targeting net-zero carbon emissions from its Prieska mine, in South Africa, hoping to collaborate on a new megascale renewable energy hub.

The ASX- and JSE-listed company has initiated discussions with the Central Energy Corporation (CENEC) to include its flagship Prieska copper/zinc project into the Prieska Power Reserve, the large-scale renewable energy hub currently planned for the Prieska district, in the Northern Cape.

The renewable energy generated at the Prieska Power Reserve will be stored as green hydrogen and ammonia on a long-term basis, and the project is aimed at achieving energy independence in order to avoid the constraints and limitations of South Africa’s national electricity grid.

Orion told shareholders on Thursday that access to the Prieska Power Reserve would significantly reduce carbon emissions from the Prieska project, with the potential that the mine could be entirely powered by renewable energy and green hydrogen sources to potentially achieve net-zero carbon emissions. This would position Prieska as one of the greenest and lowest-carbon-emission copper and zinc producers anywhere in the world.

In addition, it would also have the potential to significantly reduce mine operating costs, which also opens the door to potentially incorporate future value-adding beneficiation and downstream processing at Prieska using reliable, low-cost, clean renewable energy.

"We are delighted to be in discussions with both CENEC and our existing renewable energy partner, juwi, regarding the potential incorporation of the Prieska mine into CENEC’s Prieska Power Reserve project, which is set to become one of the largest renewable energy hubs in South Africa,” said Orion MD and CEO Errol Smart.

“The establishment of an independently-owned and -developed, large-scale renewable energy production and storage facility right on our doorstep represents a hugely exciting opportunity to establish Prieska as one of the lowest carbon emission sources of copper and zinc supply globally, with the potential to ultimately achieve carbon neutrality for the project.

“Following South Africa’s signing of the Just Energy Transition Partnership agreement at the COP26 conference earlier this month, South Africa is set to make a rapid transition away from the reliance on fossil fuels, and Orion intends to play a leading role in supporting this transition. This is a really exciting opportunity for us to play a pivotal role in the global energy transformation by delivering one of the largest new projects capable of meeting soaring demand for critical metals, such as copper, and doing so in a way that goes above and beyond our corporate and environmental and social governance objectives, dramatically reducing our carbon footprint.”