Generator manufacturer HIMOINSA, a Spain-based company in partnership with the Yanmar Global Group, believes that it is experience from 40 years in the industry that makes it the best solution for the mining industry.

“I think that's the first thing. Mining is a very specific industry, with specific requirements. HIMOINSA Southern Africa has worked on several projects within the mining sector and worked with many of the major players so we really understand the power solutions mining customers need,” explains HIMOINSA Southern Africa director Matthew Bell.

Secondly, the company’s high quality products, which are manufactured to last, ensure the company’s and its customer’s success. HIMOINSA generators are manufactured to be robust and fuel efficient, which is key when many of these mines are running generators as the prime source of power. “Mines need the equipment to last,” he says.

Further, the service support that HIMOINSA offers is key. The company is able to design a power solution for a customer in-house using its own engineering team, as well as offer the installation, commissioning and testing of that solution. If any issues occur to the mechanical products or there is unplanned maintenance, HIMOINSA can resolve those quickly, or replace a unit with a rental set while the issue is resolved.

“We are really guaranteeing the mines that they will have a secure and reliable power source throughout the duration of their projects,” Bell notes.

Projects

On that, he mentions that HIMOINSA Southern Africa earlier this year signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with a graphite project in Mozambique that will see the development of a modular, scalable, cost-effective and sustainable power solution for ASX-listed Triton Minerals Ancuabe project. HIMOINSA will develop, build, own, operate and maintain the power generation facilities.

The MoU covers a small-scale Stage 1 startup operation, and a Stage 2 expansion to full capacity.

“The supply of power is crucial to the success of a mining project and particularly at the early stages of the project development. The HIMOINSA solutions will provide the Anucabe project with flexibility and reliability,” enthused Triton MD Andrew Frazer.

HIMOINSA Southern Africa was also selected to provide a build, own, operate, transfer (BOOT) power solution for gold mining company Delta Gold Zimbabwe’s Eureka mine. This project includes a 12 MW diesel generator spinning reserve power solution.

This will give Delta Gold certainty of power supply and will ensure zero interruption to production, owing to utility outages. The scope of work includes the integration of the utility supply, as well as backup power diesel generators and on-site operational services.

With four locations across South Africa as well as a satellite office in Harare, in Zimbabwe, HIMOINSA is well-placed to service the Southern African mining industry. “Another big development is that we have taken over East Africa as well,” says Bell.

“HIMOINSA Southern and East Africa is now responsible for servicing Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Burundi and Rwanda from our office in Dar Es Salaam which we opened last year. This development enables us to provide power solutions and local support to mining customers who have existing operations or developing new mining projects in the region.”

He notes that the company also offers the use of a rental fleet of generators now totalling about 65 MW of power in different node sizes. “So if there's a lead time on the manufactured unit, we can provide an interim bridging solution with one of our rental units, while all our solutions are backed up by after sales, service and technical support,” he explains.

Hybrid Solutions

Meanwhile, HIMOINSA has been appointed the power solution provider for a hybrid application on a graphite mine in Madagascar. The project consists of a solar component, battery energy storage, and generators. Bell notes that this is one of the areas the company is strongly focused on developing.

“We have spent a lot of time developing hybrid applications where thermal generation is integrated with battery solar technologies. Although solar is not something that we offer in-house yet, we have focused on partnering with good, reliable, agile renewable companies. And we spend a lot of engineering and development time to ensure that we are the specialists in the thermal component of hybrid applications,” says Bell.

Another aspect is communication, where one needs to be able to effectively integrate with a hybrid application to ensure the mix of different technologies and generation sources, whether that is battery, solar, or wind energy.

“These are not competing technologies,” he explains. “But they need to work with each other. And that's how we try to specialise our engineering solutions to ensure success in hybrid applications.

“Being the specialist thermal provider for hybrid applications is where we see our unique offering into the future,” he concludes.