Caledonia to splurge US$35m

RYAN CHIGOCHE

Listed  mining concern, Caledonia Corporations will spend US$35m on a solar power project at its Blanket Mine in Matabeleland  South Province, Business Times can report.

Chief finance officer, Mark Learmonth said the company had to invest in the solar plant as crippling power cuts were hurting the company’s operations.

“The biggest operational challenge that we face in Zimbabwe is grid electricity. A combination of interruption to the power supply,  load shedding and also the dirty power that Blanket mine gets which if not regulated results in enormous damages to our equipment,” Learmonth said.

“We have been using diesel generators. So, we found ourselves in a situation where we are having a lot of these power surges. We just have to simply go off the grid to protect our equipment. Using diesel is very expensive and we have been having logistical challenges in acquiring large volumes of diesel.”

He added: “So, recognising the power situation isn’t going to get any better quickly. We embarked on the 1st phase of the solar project. The solar project should be running by mid-2022. The 12MW plant is going to cover 27% of the average daily electricity requirements. Phase 2 will be some sort of battery solutions so where as we spent about US14m in phase 1 , phase 2 will cost about US$35m.’’

He said  there will not be any excess power to feed to the national grid as all the power will be consumed by Blanket.

However, he commended the government for providing an atmosphere that enables companies to carry out projects of this nature without interference.

Caledonia  contracted Voltalia, an international renewable energy specialist, to construct the facility.

About US$14m was spent on the project, which will exclusively supply electricity to the gold mining operation.

The solar plant is to help Blanket Mine to address crippling power shortages that frequently disrupt production.

Several mines have also complained about the blackouts, with some resorting to direct power imports.

Power shortages have been a serious problem in Zimbabwe, whose installed electricity generating capacity is approximately 2 200MW.

But the country has been producing about 1 000MW at peak periods.

To cover for shortages, Zimbabwe imports electricity from regional power utilities especially from Eskom of South Africa and Hydro Cahora Bassa of Mozambique.