Energy

As one of the world’s deepest mines, gold mining at South Deep is very energy intensive. With a life of mine of over 70 years ahead of us, South Deep is laying plans to shift away from the use of carbon-intensive energy sources, in particular renewable energy. It has been our intention for some time to build a solar energy generating facility at South Deep with a 40MW capacity. This is currently pending regulatory approval.

South Deep endorses the recommendations of the Financial Services Board’s Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), which commits us to transparency regarding our impact on climate. Gold Fields’ integrated energy and carbon management strategy guides our approach on ensuring security of supply, improving energy efficiencies and reducing the cost of energy, while decarbonising our operations and building resilience against climate change.

The benefit of being more energy efficient is two-fold. Not only does it improve energy productivity, which reduces costs, but it also reduces our carbon footprint. At South Deep we are implementing the following energy efficiency initiatives:

• Process optimisations
• Optimising compressed air systems and new ventilation fans and controls
• Use of high precision drill rigs to minimise rework
• Use of fuel additives and various business improvement initiatives that optimise equipment energy consumption