Strandline Resources has executed a 15-year Electricity Supply Agreement (ESA) with Contract Power Australia, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Pacific Energy Limited, for its Coburn Heavy Mineral Sands Project which is located approximately 240 kilometres north of the Port of Geraldton in Western Australia.
Under the agreement, Contact Power will build, own, operate and maintain (BOOM) the power generation and LNG storage and regasification facilities for the project.
Strandline outlines that Coburn’s purpose-designed power infrastructure is based on a low-cost, low-emission solution integrating natural gas-fuelled generation with state-of-the-art solar and battery storage technology.
The executed ESA enables Strandline to capture energy supply cost savings relative to the Updated Definitive Feasibility Study (DFS) published in June 2020 [1].
Contract Power specialises in turn-key design, installation and operation of energy assets and has a strong track record of delivery in the WA mining sector.
Coburn’s power station will be located near the mineral separation plant (MSP). The power station is designed to be suitable for a maximum demand capacity of 15 megawatts (MW) and an average consumed power of approximately 10 MW.
Natural gas will be supplied by others under an industry-standard long-term LNG supply agreement and trucked to an on-site storage and re-vaporisation facility supplied by Contract Power. The LNG then feeds a set of efficient engine generators on an N+1 basis and has roughly 30 per cent solar (renewable) penetration for the major stable loads.
Generation is at 11 kilovolts (kV) with step up to 22kV for power transmission to the project loads across the mine site.
The contract is based on a 15-year BOOM commercial model with fixed and variable payment regime for power consumed over the term. The contract provides for the incorporation of wind turbine and other new-generation technology solutions under agreed commercial structures as and when they become commercially attractive to the project. The contract is subject to conditions precedent regarding the development of the project.
Strandline’s Managing Director, Luke Graham commented: “The execution of this major development and operational contract marked another key step in our strategy to bring Coburn into production as well as establishing an important relationship with Contract Power, a leader in sustainable clean energy generation in Western Australia.”
The Updated DFS noted that Coburn is a world-scale mineral sands deposit, containing a rich zircon-titanium HM assemblage, with 20 million tonnes of in-situ HM, low slimes, low oversize and strong geological continuity across and along strike.