2010
AMBATOVY SUSTAINABILITY REPORT
28
C1. Environmental Performance
C1.5 Soil
Soil management is important during all phases of the Project
and is required for all areas where the natural environment is
affected by earthworks. Ambatovy’s Soil Management Plan
consists of three main components:
3
Handling and storage of soil (topsoil and mineral soil)
3
Sediment and erosion control
3
Soil quality
The Soil Management Plan aims to ensure that proposed
mitigation measures are properly implemented, that
monitoring is carried out as planned and that the following
objectives, among others, are achieved:
3
To ensure that no excessive erosion occurs on any
surfaces disturbed during construction that would
require unforeseen mitigation measures.
3
To provide realistic economic solutions to sediment
and erosion control.
3
To protect areas identified as environmentally
sensitive to erosion (e.g. wildlife habitats, conservation
areas, etc.).
3
To facilitate rehabilitation activities.
C1.6 Energy
Direct Energy Consumption
An estimated 95% of Ambatovy’s energy consumption will
be at the plant and mine sites, both of which have their own
power generating stations. Electricity and steam will be
produced by a coal-burning power plant. The vast majority
of the total energy required by Ambatovy will be for ore
processing.
Mine Site
3
Mine site construction – 600-800 KW continuous (total)
3
Mine site operations – 18 MW total power available;
14-14.5 MW steady state
3
Nine diesel generators producing two MW each
3
Diesel: 80,000-100,000 litres
Plant Site
Three coal-fired boilers are used to produce steam, which is
used to generate power and is required in the process. This
steam production is supplemented from the waste heat boilers
in the two acid plants. Process steam is used to heat slurry
in the ore leach, sulphide precipitation, hydrogen reduction
plant, ammonium sulphate plant and several minor refinery
processes.
3
Peak electrical demand is 80 MW with an average
demand of 65 MW
3
Three steam turbine generators with a capacity of
45 MW each
3
Diesel generators are used as backup for critical
equipment
Energy Efficiency and Conservation
Since the Project is still under construction, there are no
baseline data against which to measure energy conservation
performance. Still, there have been several initiatives to
conserve energy:
3
During the pressure acid leach stage, steam from the
flash tanks will be used in the ore slurry heaters and
other plant areas to optimize energy utilization.
3
Diesel engines used for mine site electrical generation
and plant site construction and backup can be
converted to heavy fuel (HFO), which uses less refined
hydrocarbons.
3
All overhead lights at Ambatovy have photoelectric
cells that turn off when they do not sense movement
for a period of time.
3
At the mine site, water pumps use the most energy.
There are 20 electric motors with high efficiency
variable speed drives.
3
The overall layout philosophy is directed toward
minimizing the volume of earthworks required and
allowing gravity flow of process streams as much as
possible. As well, with a single pump station at the
mine, most of the energy to operate the pipeline will
come from the natural gradient between the mine site
and the plant site (1,000 m elevation difference).
3
With the priority on completing construction and
commissioning, there are no initiatives to reduce
indirect energy consumption to date.
