Proactive Investors

Lion One Metals Limited (ASX:LLO) (CVE:LIO) is partnering with Swiss company meeco Group to build and install a hybrid-solar-diesel power plant at the Tuvatu Gold Project on the island of Viti Levu in Fiji. 

The company will be a 50% shareholder of a special project vehicle (SPV) through an agreed buy-in structure and will use meeco’s 7 megawatt (MW) solar generation system to generate up to 11 MW of power production.

24-hour source of power

Power generated from the installation will provide a continuous 24-hour source of power for the gold mine and processing plant, which will be built on 4.1 hectares of unused land.

It will have an estimated annual energy production of around 10.31 gigawatt hours (GWH) displacing more than 6,000 tonnes of Co2 emissions a year.

Clean solar-energy solution

Lion One managing director Stephen Mann said: “We are excited to partner with meeco to build a clean solar-energy solution for powering the Tuvatu Gold Project.

“meeco has a solid track record of installing and operating solar hybrid power plants worldwide.

“This hybrid system will not only reduce our carbon footprint but will enable Lion One to meet our power capacity requirements while significantly reducing fuel consumption and operating costs for the Tuvatu Gold Project.”

Fiji’s second largest gold deposit

Tuvatu is a large gold-bearing vein system hosted in the eroded remnants of the Navilawa volcano, one of Fiji’s largest hydrothermal volcanic systems and second largest gold deposit.

The latest resource estimate recorded an indicated resource of 1.101 million tonnes at 8.46 g/t gold for 299,500 ounces and an inferred resource of 1.506 million tonnes at 9.7 g/t for 468,000 ounces.