London-listed Bezant Resources has signed a nonbinding letter of intent (LOI) to enter into a partnership with CrossBoundary Energy Management and Eversolar for the provision of a renewable and/or hybrid solar energy supply for the Hope and Gorob copper/gold project in Namibia, in which Bezant holds a 70% interest.

Subject to executing a legally binding offtake agreement, the installation will provide a sustainable renewable power supply for both the crushing and ore sorting plants at the mine site, as well as a renewable installation at the flotation plant located close to Swakopmund that will be reconfigured to produce a final copper/gold concentrate from the ore sorted preconcentrate.

Bezant said on July 24 that it had been seeking an energy solution for the project that will save on energy cost, reduce CO₂ emissions and reinforce its sustainability initiative consistent with best environmental, social, and governance practices.

The Hope and Gorob project has already committed to the use of dry ore sorting to reduce water consumption, together with the repurposing of an existing offsite flotation plant that reduces the project’s physical footprint.

The LOI is for the delivery of a sustainable renewable solar energy solution to both the Hope and Gorob project and flotation plant sites and is subject to joint execution of a legally binding renewable and/or hybrid energy power offtake agreement by December 1.

Under the terms of the agreement, no advance payments are required from Bezant.

An indicative proposal, which is based on an initial 15-year contract term, presents a competitive cost of energy and is expected to provide substantial savings both financially and in greenhouse-gas emissions compared with a thermal-only solution

"To construct a renewable solution that incorporates both production sites is a major gain in terms of cost reduction over the life-of-mine (LoM) and a reduction in emissions. Our commitment to a sustainable power supply underpins our previous work introducing dry ore sorting to limit water consumption and the plan to effectively recycle an existing flotation plant to process our preconcentrate.

“These initiatives, combined, demonstrate that smaller projects can also afford to operate in a responsible and sustainable manner,” Bezant chairperson Colin Bird said.

CrossBoundary Energy will assume responsibility for the financing and implementation of the solar hybrid system and provide a guarantee of reliability and a suitable renewable policy for the LoM working with codeveloper Eversolar.

Eversolar will be responsible for an engineering, procurement and construction solution and the completion of the project and subsequent day-to-day management of the solar plants at both Hope and Gorob and at the flotation plant.