AUSTRALIAN energy firm, Invictus Energy has signed an agreement with Dallaglio Investments and Himoinsa Southern Africa Proprietary for a gas-to-power project to supply electricity to Eureka Gold Mine.
Eureka Gold Mine is owned and operated by Dallaglio, a subsidiary of Padenga Holdings Limited.
Himoinsa is a Spanish-based power generation equipment supplier and is part of Yanmar Energy System, offering comprehensive power solutions. Yanmar Energy System is a subsidiary of the global Japanese engine manufacturer, Yanmar Co Limited.
In a statement released yesterday, Invictus said the agreement would supply natural gas from the company’s Cabora Bassa Project gas project in Muzarabani as feedstock for a gas-to-power project at Eureka.
“Invictus Energy Limited is pleased to announce it has executed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Dallaglio Investments Pvt Ltd and Himoinsa Southern Africa Proprietary Limited for a proposed gas-to-power project to supply electricity to the Eureka Gold Mine,” Invictus said.
“Invictus Energy and One Gas Resources through Geo Associates Limited (80% held by Invictus) have executed an MoU with Dallaglio and Himoinsa to supply natural gas from the company’s Cabora Bassa Project as feedstock for a gas-to-power project to Eureka, one of Zimbabwe’s largest mines, owned and operated by Dallaglio.”
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Invictus said the MoU was non-binding until definitive agreements consisting of a gas sale and purchase agreement (GSPA) was entered into by all parties involved.
The three companies will conduct feasibility studies to determine the best criteria for the success of the project.
“The MoU and exclusivity are effective for three years from the date of the agreement for any power project less than 50MW. The MoU is non-binding until definitive agreements, consisting of a gas sale and purchase agreement are entered into by the parties,” Invictus said.
“The parties will conduct feasibility studies to determine the criteria for a successful integrated project, including technical, economic, environmental factors, regulatory approvals and a market clearing price for power produced from the power project [that is a gas price that can support the investment in the Pilot Project and the related infrastructure necessary for the power project].”
Invictus managing director Scott Macmillan said the MoU was a major step towards monetising opportunities available to the firm.
“Signing this MoU is a major step forward in our early commercialisation strategy and demonstrates the immediate monetisation opportunities available to Invictus as we look to progress the Cabora Bassa project following our significant gas discovery at Mukuyu,” he said.
“The high-quality gas composition confirmed from Mukuyu-2 requires minimal surface processing of the gas stream, which enables the implementation of a near-term pilot project utilising a low-cost production system at the well site and existing infrastructure to deliver gas and power to end users.”
He said the company was working closely with Himoinsa and Dallaglio to complete the feasibility study in the coming months.
Himoinsa Southern Africa director Matthew Bell said the deal would be a reference for other mines in Zimbabwe.
“We are pleased to be working with Invictus and expanding our relationship with Dallaglio to potentially provide a cleaner, cost-effective and reliable source of energy to the Eureka Mine by substituting our diesel power generation with natural gas,” Bell said.
He noted that this project would complement or replace the diesel plant without any interruption to the mine’s power security.
“Himoinsa offers a wide range of generation technologies using diesel, HFO [heavy fuel oil], natural gas, LPG [liquefied petroleum gas], and lithium-ion batteries,” he said.
“One of the advantages of already being operational onsite at Eureka with a diesel power plant is that we can develop an alternative gas solution to complement or replace the diesel plant without any interruption to the mine’s power security.”