In a reopened tungsten mine in Tasmania, Fortescue Future Industries has agreed to replace diesel with renewable energy and green hydrogen.
Although its initial option fell through, Group 6 Metals has inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with FFI to “explore alternatives” to possibly power its Dolphin Tungsten Mine on King Island in Tasmania.
Over 31 years after it was shut down because of an extended period of too-low tungsten prices, Group 6 Metals, formerly known as King Island Scheelite, is attempting to restart the Dolphin mine. According to the corporation, commissioning and initial production should take place this year.
In order to increase the 11kv transmission line to the Dolphin mine’s capacity, Hydro Tasmania simultaneously obtained a $2 million grant from the Tasmanian government.
However, Group 6 announced last week that the contract had fallen through owing to “a number of commercial and operational concerns” and that the remaining $1.6 million will be used to purchase a diesel generator to power the site and explore other options.
The FFI has filled the void. In order to supply electricity, thermal energy, and hydrogen to the mine as well as look at processing higher value tungsten, it is looking into a wind farm, a hydrogen plant, and possibly a fertiliser plant nearby.
“We plan to keep expenditures to a minimum,” said Group 6 Metals managing director Keith McKnight in a statement. “Permission has been secured to repurpose the grant monies.”
We are also eager to look into the opportunities this project may open up for the company to develop value-added goods other than tungsten concentrate.
We anticipate that creating a renewable energy solution will expand Group 6 Metal’s competitive advantage beyond the high grade and long life of the Dolphin deposit and into the field of “Green Tungsten,” establishing the company as a leader in the field of critical minerals in terms of truly clean supply chains.
Eva Hanly, FFI’s director for the East Coast and New Zealand, says the prospect of providing energy to a mine site and the ability to use excess power to produce green hydrogen—and perhaps even to launch a local hydrogen industry—are both “very exciting prospects for us.”
FFI is investing millions of dollars in the creation of green hydrogen and is considering a number of significant projects in the US as well as chances in Europe and other regions.
It is currently moving on alone with plans for a manufacturing facility in Gladstone after its New York-based partner Plug Power called off the venture in January. Additionally, it plans to work with partner Puget Sound Energy to transform a historic coal mine in the US into a green hydrogen production facility.
Due to an off-grid power infrastructure jointly created by Hydro Tasmania and its subsidiary Entura, which has reduced the Island’s yearly fuel use by 65%, King Island has a majority renewable electricity source.
The King Island Renewable Integration Project (KIREIP), controlled by a sophisticated hybrid control system, now includes 2.5MW of wind generation, 470kW of solar PV, two 1 MVA flywheels, a 3MW/1.5MWh battery, a 1.5MW dynamic resistor, and an aggregated quick customer demand response system.
Late last year, Hydro Tasmania announced that it had been given the go-ahead to expand the project by including a new 1.5MW solar farm.
