Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) is building one of the world’s largest electrolyser plants under construction in 2020 to generate hydrogen for its strategy to operate a fleet of environmentally friendly ore haulage trucks.
Amplats, the most mechanised platinum group metals (PGMs) mining company in SA, is building the electrolyser plant, which uses electricity to split water into its constituent parts of hydrogen and oxygen, at its Mogalakwena open-cast mine near Polokwane, Limpopo.
The key to operating electrolyser plants is cheap and, preferably, renewable energy. The relative efficiency of creating hydrogen as a fuel source puts it ahead of other battery and electrical technologies.
Renewable energy is an ideal source of electricity to convert water to hydrogen. There is a loss of energy in the conversion, which makes using coal-fired electricity impractical, but using electricity that is low cost and sustainable is economically practical, Jun Wang, deputy secretary-general of the International Hydrogen Fuel Cell Association, has said.
For SA PGM miners, developing hydrogen fuel cell applications will open a critically important new source of demand for their metals, with platinum a key metal in the fuel cell.
An estimated 400,000oz of platinum will be used in fuel cells and electrolyser plants by 2030, said Stephen Forrest, executive chair of SFA Oxford, a subsidiary of Sibanye-Stillwater, the world’s biggest supplier of PGMs.
About 3-million ounces of platinum are used annually to make anti-pollution devices for diesel engines. SA is the world’s largest source of PGMs and platinum in particular.
Part of Amplats’s strategy is to build a solar plant to generate electricity, but it will first use power from SA’s state-owned monopoly Eskom, which generates more than 90% of its electricity from coal-fired plants.
During last week’s PGMs Industry Day conference, Amplats CEO Natascha Viljoen touched on the electrolyser plant, noting it would be the third-largest such operation built globally in 2020.
Its capacity is one tonnes of hydrogen a day and would equate to 12% of generation capacity under construction.
“We are quite invested in developing a hydrogen truck, which if all goes to plan, will have wheels on the ground in the first quarter of next year,” she said, adding Amplats had already rolled out underground locomotives that use hydrogen fuel cells.
The electrolyser plant will be built in modules, with the first hydrogen expected before June 2021.
“We are not disclosing costs at this stage. The attractive part of hydrogen generation using electrolysis is that it is very modular and scalable,” said Julian Soles, head of technology development, mining and sustainability at Anglo American, which owns 80% of Amplats.
“So we can add capacity as needed and, due to the large scale of mines, we are able to justify the investment in green hydrogen infrastructure and provide a better solution for the entire mine site power system to enable a move to net zero carbon emissions.”
Amplats has no plans to capture and extract value from the oxygen released in the electrolysing process.
Fuel-cell trucks
Testing and concept work around the hydrogen-powered haul truck will prove consumption estimates and validate the strategy to move Anglo’s entire global fleet of about 400 similar vehicles on to gas and off diesel.
“Moving to fuel-cell trucks powered by green hydrogen would play an important role in cutting our diesel usage and contribute to our target of cutting absolute greenhouse gas emissions by 30% to 2030,” Soles said.
“By generating our own fuel on site, we will eliminate our reliance on importing fuels and decouple ourselves from the oil price as we transition.”
Other companies such as Orion Minerals, which is restarting the Prieska copper and zinc mine in the Northern Cape and will make it a highly mechanised operation, are also considering options around hydrogen fuel cells in the sun-baked province.
The most cost-efficient method of splitting water is the use of renewable energy, and despite initially using Eskom, Amplats will use solar-generated electricity in the future.
Former CEO Chris Griffith, who unexpectedly resigned in February, had said a study was under way into a 75MW solar plant that could be expanded to 100MW and that the plant should be in operation during 2022.
The plant will cost between $70m and $80m and have an annual operating cost of up to $2m. In light of SA’s carbon taxes adding R300m a year more to the cost line, the project is an important addition to the business.
The government had to participate in developing hydrogen economies because it was not something mining companies and other industries could do alone, said Steve Phiri, CEO of Royal Bafokeng Platinum.
“You have to get governments into the picture. It’s not solely an industry issue. It’s a partnership with government, with development banks, and everyone else has to be part of the economic stimulus of the country,” he said, pointing to the efforts of governments in California and China to do so.
“In a country like ours, which is seriously battling with power generation and availability, it should be the number one priority to promote the hydrogen economy, which would go a long way in alleviating our power problems,” Phiri said.
Many CEOs in the mining industry have spoken of their frustration in securing licences from the state to get permits to install solar arrays, using third parties to build and operate the plants, and paying a fee for the electricity to keep the cost off their balance sheets.
Viljoen said the government and Eskom were in a difficult position when granting these permissions because it would reduce a reliable and important revenue stream for the power generator, but there was also a need to free up electricity supply in a constrained system.
“The industry is more able — certainly from a technology and execution point of view — to look after ourselves with alternative energy supplies,” she said.
“We can alleviate the pressure on Eskom, but they don’t want us to alleviate some of that pressure, so how do we play a role in alternative energy supplies in the country?”
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.