Gold Fields is on track to commission a 50-MW solar plant by the third quarter of this year, according to its CEO Chris Griffith.
The R715-million project has already received a licence to expand South Deep solar plant capacity to 60MW.
The South Deep Khanyisa solar plant was approved by the National Energy Regulator of South Africa in February last year.
Griffiths said the solar plant would allow the mining house to save R123 million in electricity and 109 kt net emission reductions per year. It will generate 24% of South Deep’s annual electricity consumption.
Gold Fields would later this month commission a 12-MW solar plant at its Gruyere mine in Western Australia, said Griffiths, outlining the company’s decarbonisation target of net-zero emissions by 2050.