Decarbonisation
Image took its initial steps towards reducing its carbon footprint in 2018 with a commitment to work with Sunrise Energy to install a 2.3MW solar farm at its Boonanarring project, with the goal of offsetting 25% of its electricity requirements with renewal solar energy. The solar farm commenced in September 2020 and achieved our objective of offsetting 25% of electricity requirements through the life of operations at Boonanarring.
Image has also actively supported the efforts of local landowners at Boonanarring who worked with Murdoch University to establish test plots to determine optimal ratios of clay and mulch to mix with the local sandy soils to improve soil moisture retention and overall productivity of the soil, with the aim of accelerating and enhancing carbon dioxide sequestration capacity of the soils. Image provided access to clayey materials from the overburden mined at Boonanarring.
Image is also investigating the potential for a small-scale pumped hydro facility to be installed at Boonanarring to take advantage of the elevation differences between mined out sections of the mine and the nearby escarpment directly to the east. Renewal solar power would be used to pump water from the mine void up to a reservoir located at the top of the escarpment, and when required, the water would be returned to the mine void via gravity, with the falling water passing through a generator to produce electricity. Such a facility could have the potential to serve as a hydraulic battery for use by the Company or local utility during peak power demand.
Image is also working with a local wind farm construction company to determine the viability of wind turbines on one or more of Image-owned properties in the vicinity of Boonanarring. This exercise could result in another source of renewable energy at Boonanarring.
Lastly, the Company is actively investigating the viability of a novel, lower carbon dioxide emissions, pyrometallurgical processing technology to convert mined ilmenite to high-value synthetic rutile. The novel technology utilises hydrogen instead of coking coal currently used in existing commercial processing in WA. A provisional patent regarding this technology was filed in November 2023 and the Company has plans to file a second patent to expand on the potential feedstocks available for this process. Planning for a demonstrate-scale plant has commenced to de-risk the technical and economics of such a process.