Giant zinc mine trebles size of wind project to dodge crippling costs of gas power

Zinc miner MMG has revealed plans to triple the size of a proposed wind farm in the remote north-west of Queensland as one of Australia’s biggest mining provinces accelerates plans to wean itself off the crippling price of gas power.

MMG operates one of the biggest zinc mines in the world at Dugald River, and recently doubled the size of its solar farm to 88 MW, and proposed a 48 MW wind project to further reduce its exposure to expensive gas-fired power.

In an updated application for environmental approvals under the federal EPBC Act, MMG now reveals that 48 MW wind project will triple in size to 144 MW, with the plan now to install 24 six megawatt turbines, instead of the original eight.

The expansion had been flagged as a possibility last year, when MMG noted that the only way to reduce its high energy costs and price volatility would be through a combination of renewable energy sources.

“These combined outcomes will improve the financial sustainability of the operation, whilst providing positive environmental outcomes in the form of reduced emissions,” it noted at the time.

The zinc mine already sources around one third of its power from solar, and the wind project will provide around another 40 per cent and will service other customers in the Mt Isa region.

MMG also has its eyes on the proposed Copperstring 2.0 transmission link from Townsville to near Mt Isa, which is expected to open up more large mineral provinces, and boost demand for renewable energy.

The Dugald River wind project will be sited on the Knapdale Range that overlooks the mine. It will feature Goldwind turbines. A battery storage system is also flagged as a future addition.

See Renew Economy’s Large Scale Wind Map of Australia for more details of this and other projects.