In 2018, at the Otjikoto mine in Namibia, B2Gold unveiled what was then an unusual sight at an African mining operation – an installation of solar panels.
The 6MW solar facility, which also included a battery storage (BESS) component, now provides around 13% of the mine’s power according to the company. Ken Jones, B2Gold’s director for sustainability, says the company was mainly motivated by the need to reduce its carbon footprint.
“Climate risk management is really what it’s about,” he says. “You can’t decarbonise the rest of your operation until you clean up your electricity generation”
B2Gold, like many mining companies operating in remote parts of the continent, has historically relied on purpose-built heavy fuel oil (HFO) plants to provide power. It has now been able to put its HFO plant at Otjikoto under care and maintenance after deploying solar power and connecting to the Namibian electricity grid in 2023. The company has also invested in solar at its other African operation, at Fekola in Mali, where solar and storage will soon deliver around 30% of the mine’s electricity.
Jones tells us that solar has proven reliable at the mines in Namibia and Mali. “These facilities have more than performed. They’ve met and actually exceeded projections and modelling.”
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