Sibanye enters into another renewable energy purchase agreement

JOHANNESBURG (miningwekly.com) – Sibanye-Stillwater, listed on the Johannesburg and New York stock exchanges, has entered into its fourth renewable power purchase agreement (PPA).

The green metals and gold producer has completed financing for an additional 140 MW wind project, the Umsinde Emoyeni wind farm, located on the border of the Northern Cape and the Western Cape, near Murraysburg.

The financial close of the project represents another critical step towards carbon neutrality by 2040, Sibanye-Stillwater CEO Neal Froneman emphasized in the edition to Mining Weekly.

Construction will begin soon, and the facility is scheduled for commercial use in the fourth quarter of 2026.

Using the national grid under a Safe Road Transport Agreement with state-owned utility Eskom, the wind farm will supply Sibanye’s facilities in South Africa.

Under the terms of the 20-year PPA, Umsinde Emoyeni will be fully financed by a build, own and operate project consortium led by African Clean Energy Developments (ACED) and Energy Infrastructure Management Services (EIMS Africa), which are African energy development companies. Infrastructure Investment Managers (AIIM), a platform for the development, supply and management of renewable energy projects. Reatile Renewables is also a shareholder of the consortium.

AIIM is an arm of Old Mutual Alternative Investments, which invested in the project through its IDEAS Fund, a domestic infrastructure equity fund. Rand Merchant Bank is the sole authorized lead organizer of the project.

Together with Sibanye’s previously announced PPAs – which also include the ACED-EIMS-IDEAS Castle Wind Farm – the project brings the total dedicated capacity of renewable energy projects under construction for Sibanye’s exclusive use to 407 MW, securing 70% of the company’s long-term resource on demand date energy in South Africa.

From 2027, this combined renewable capacity will enable a 24% reduction in Sibanye’s Scope 2 emissions, or approximately 1,450,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent per year, and will further enable the socio-economic development of local communities and meet the requirements of Southern countries . African Mining Charter.

Meanwhile, Sibanye continues to pursue carbon neutrality across its 600MW portfolio of renewable energy projects.

“The renewable energy secured by our four PPAs will enable the progressive reduction of our carbon footprint, with the aim of contributing not only to mitigating the effects of climate change, but also to enhance the sustainability and co-value creation of our operations in South Africa through favorable relative prices to current supply .

“We continue to develop and implement energy solutions that contribute to our strategy,” Froneman added.

Sibanye, an international metals mining and processing group with a diversified portfolio of operations, projects and investments across five continents, is a significant global recycler of platinum group metal autocatalysts with an interest in leading mine waste remediation operations.

As one of the world’s largest major producers of platinum, palladium and rhodium, it also produces and refines iridium and ruthenium, nickel, chromium, copper and cobalt.

The leading gold mining company has recently begun to diversify its asset portfolio into battery metals mining and processing and increase its presence in the circular economy by increasing its exposure to recycling and reprocessing of tailings globally.