Canadian mining company Robex Resources and Vivo Energy, which sells and distributes Shell- and Engen-branded fuels and lubricants in Africa, have reached an agreement for Vivo Energy to supply solar energy to the Nampala gold mine, in Mali, for five to fifteen years.

The project will result in the construction of a 3.9 MW solar photovoltaic power plant, with a battery storage capacity of 2.6 MWh, which, owing to the energy management system, will be fully integrated into the mine’s existing thermal power plant.

"We are proud to introduce solar energy into our mining business. This energy will enable us to reduce our carbon impact by about 60 000 t over ten years, provide us with a complementary source of energy to stabilise our electricity production and reduce our production costs, which are among the lowest in the world.

"This facility is expected to reduce the cost of [energy] currently consumed by the mine operations,” says Robex CEO Benjamin Cohen.

“I’m very pleased to have reached this agreement, which is in line with our long-term vision for our operations on this deposit. It will allow us to further improve our profitability, reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and significantly improve our impact on the environment.

"This project reinforces our environmental policy and reflects our desire to participate in the fight against global warming and to reduce our environmental footprint,” comments Robex president Georges Cohen.

“This project with Robex Resources is Vivo Energy’s first contract with one of our commercial customers to provide fuel, joined with a hybrid solar energy solution. We believe the benefits of our innovative partnership of bringing a total energy solution to our commercial customers are many and we look forward to expanding our offering to our present and future customer base to help reduce their costs and CO2 emissions,” Vivo Energy CEO Christian Chammas said.

Vivo Energy Mali has supplied fuels and lubricants to the Nampala mine since it reached commercial production in 2017, and Robex Resources is a key customer of Vivo Energy in Mali.