Burkina Faso: Govt Orders Immediate Closure Of 43 Artisanal Gold Mines Due To Security Concerns

 

 

By Ebi Imisi

 

The authorities of the Boucle du Mouhoun, in the northwest of Burkina Faso, have ordered the closure of 43 gold mining sites for "security reasons" as of Wednesday, in this region plagued by jihadist violence.

 

In an order published on Wednesday, Regional governor Babo Pierre Bassinga lists 43 artisanal gold mining sites in 13 communes that are closed until further notice.

 

According to a security source contacted in the region, the move was necessitated to reduce explosion on such sites.

 

"This response to the need to limit or even reduce to zero the traffic of explosives on these artisanal sites which are very often diverted to the benefit of armed terrorist groups

 

"It is also a question of drying up the sources of income of these groups, some of which hold to ransom the mining sites which are beyond the control of the state," the source said.

 

Also, the regional governor, Bassinga stated that anyone contravening the provisions of the decree will face criminal sanctions.

 

About Boucle du Mouhoun region

The Boucle du Mouhoun region, which borders Mali, is regularly hit by deadly attacks by jihadist groups linked to al-Qaeda or the Islamic State.

 

Despite an official ban on artisanal gold panning, which regularly causes deadly landslides, the Burkinabe authorities are struggling to control this unregulated exploitation, carried out by more than one million people, according to official figures.

 

In early February, at least 10 people were killed when a small-scale gold mine in western Burkina Faso collapsed, according to officials of a gold miners' association.

 

A year earlier, a dynamite stockpile exploded at an artisanal gold site in western Burkina Faso, killing about 60 people.

 

With approximately 70 tons per year, the production of legal gold mines has become Burkina Faso's leading export product in a dozen years, ahead of cotton.

 

The artisanal sector generates additional annual production of about 10 tons of gold, according to the Ministry of Mines.

 

Burkina Faso, the scene of two military coups in 2022, has been caught since 2015 in a spiral of jihadist violence that began in Mali and Niger a few years earlier and has spread beyond those borders.

 

In seven years, the violence has left more than 10,000 civilians and soldiers dead, according to NGOs, and some two million people internally displaced.

I'll Address Nigerians Shortly, - Peter Obi

 

 

By Our Correspondent

 

The Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, has stated that he will soon address Nigerians and the international community.

 

He made this known in a tweet on Wednesday, where he stated that his running mate, Datti Baba-Ahmed, was addressing an international press conference at the party's headquarters in Abuja.

 

Obi wrote, "Our Vice presidential candidate Dr. Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed, is addressing an international press conference at the Labour Party Headquarters in Abuja.

 

"I intend to address Nigerians and the international community shortly."

 

This is coming hours after his All Progressive Congress counterpart, Bola Tinubu, was announced as the presidential election winner.

Energy Vault launches Gravity-based energy storage

By Olaborede Olugbenga Israel

The gravity-based system mentioned above has been devised by a company called Energy Vault. It uses the energy produced when renewable generation is high to raise 30-tonne bricks into the air inside a special building.

Why? Well, elevating the bricks results in them storing what is known as potential energy. This is similar to the kind of energy held in a spring when you stretch it – releasing the spring releases the energy stored. In the case of the Energy Vault system, once the raised brick is lowered, it releases kinetic energy that can be fed into power grids.

The blocks are all stored within modular buildings that can be built up in units of 10 megawatt-hour to whatever size is required.

Pumped hydro energy storage

Hydropower is by far the world’s biggest source of renewable electricity generation.

Hydropower accounts for more than 60% of global renewable energy generation.

Hydropower accounts for more than 60% of global renewable energy generation. Image: Our World in Data

Pumped hydroelectric storage operates according to similar principles to gravity-based energy storage. It pumps water from a lower reservoir into a higher reservoir, and can then release this water and pass it downwards through turbines to generate power as and when required.

Water is pumped to the higher reservoir at times when electricity demand and prices are low. It is released when electricity demand rises.

Pumped hydroelectric storage. renewable energy

Pumped hydroelectric storage operates according to similar principles to gravity-based energy storage. It pumps water from a lower reservoir into a higher reservoir, and can then release this water and pass it downwards through turbines to generate power as and when required. Water is pumped to the higher reservoir at times when electricity demand and prices are low. It is released when electricity demand rises. Image: International Hydropower Association

Pumped storage hydropower makes up 94% of the world’s energy storage, the International Hydropower Association says, adding that studies suggest a significant potential to scale this up even further.

What about storing energy in compressed air?

While pumped hydro moves water upwards, compressed air energy storage (CAES) involves moving energy underground.

It works by using surplus power to run a rotary compressor that condenses air. This highly pressurized air is then packed into an underground cavern or container and can later be released, heated and expanded in a turbine to generate power.

Compressed air energy storage. renewable energy

Compressed air energy storage involves moving highly pressurized air into underground caverns. Image: European Association for Storage of Energy

This approach has been in use since the 1870s, but there are only two commercial-scale CAES plants in operation worldwide – one in the US that was commissioned in 1991 and one in Germany that launched in 1978.

Renewable energy cannot provide steady and interrupted flows of electricity – making energy storage increasingly

By Kolawole Yemisi Victoria

The world is set to add as much renewable power over 2022-2027 as it did in the past 20, according to the International Energy Agency.

This is making energy storage increasingly important, as renewable energy cannot provide steady and interrupted flows of electricity.

Here are four innovative ways we can store renewable energy without batteries.

Giant bricks are not what most people think of when they hear the words “energy storage”, but they are a key element of a gravity-based system that could help the world manage an increasing dependence on renewable electricity generation.

Global renewable capacity could rise as much in 2022-2027 as it did in the previous 20 years, according to the International Energy Agency. This makes energy storage increasingly important, as renewable energy cannot provide steady and interrupted flows of electricity – the sun does not always shine, and the wind does not always blow. As a result, we need to find ways of storing excess power when wind turbines are spinning fast, and solar panels are getting plenty of rays.

Batteries would seem to be the obvious solution, but there are several obstacles to be overcome first, including high prices and a lack of standardization around technical requirements, as Deloitte points out.

Here are four innovative ways we can store renewable energy without batteries.

Total renewable electricity capacity additions, 2001-2027

Graph showing the renewable electricity capacity additions

Global renewable capacity could rise as much in 2022-27 as it did in the previous 20 years.

Green Hydrogen: Australia at risk of being overwhelmed in US, Middle East

 

By Olaborede Olugbenga Israel

Australia’s natural renewable energy advantage in the race to create a green hydrogen industry is at risk of being overwhelmed by “huge and aggressive” policy support in the US and the Middle East, according to Fortescue Future Industries’ Guy Debelle.

Debelle, formerly FFI’s chief financial officer and now serving as a director, said the Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act was mostly aimed at accelerating decarbonisation and was “one of the largest pieces of industrial policy we’ve ever seen”. Without a formal spending cap, it could eventually top $US1trillion ($1.44tn).

“It’s not just money,” Debelle told a gathering of business economists in Sydney on Wednesday. “It’s actually people, it’s expertise and knowhow, which [are] migrating to the US.”

Oil-rich Middle Eastern nations had also “seen the writing on the wall” of a shift off fossil fuels and were pouring resources and making land available for firms to tap renewable energy resources and develop a hydrogen sector.

“There’s a risk that, despite Australia’s great comparative advantages in green energy, the US and the Middle East are going to eat our lunch,” Debelle, who was also formerly a deputy governor of the Reserve Bank, said.

The Australian’s back-of-the-envelope green hydrogen figures are overblown and forget climate impact | Temperature Check

Many nations are investing heavily in hydrogen as an alternative fuel to oil, gas and coal. Debelle said the US spending had the potential to lower the cost of making hydrogen from $6/kilogram to $2.50/kg. That would be comparable to fossil fuels.

One outcome for Australia, if governments didn’t provide “a more targeted response”, was that markets to the north such as Japan and South Korea – which had relatively poor renewable energy resources – would be snapped up by the US or other rivals.

“I’m really concerned that we are missing out on a huge opportunity,” he said.

Debelle also warned Australian businesses to focus on reducing their greenhouse gas emissions directly, rather than relying on buying carbon offsets to try to cancel them out.

Those “misaligned decarbonisation incentives” could leave firms vulnerable to higher costs as carbon credits “will get more expensive”, he said. Future market restrictions, such as from the European Union, could also leave them vulnerable if they had not cut emissions.

“I’m concerned about people waiting for long … and that means we don’t get the nascent industry off the ground here,” Debelle said, adding he could foresee companies scrambling to find alternatives “but the solutions take three or four years to build”.

In Australia, scale could determine which localities succeeded in fostering a hydrogen industry. Western Australia, Queensland and South Australia were more likely to have the size for exports, given their solar and wind resources.

States such as NSW, though, had the scope to supply local industries. Fortescue Future Industries, for instance, was working with AGL Energy to repurpose its Liddell coal-fired power station after it shuts completely by April.

“The grid’s already set up,” Debelle said, explaining the Hunter Valley plant’s appeal.

Paul Barrett, chief executive for Hysata, a company developing electrolysis cells based on University of Wollongong research, said the US support included $US1bn for hydrogen electroliser production in an infrastructure bill.

“We could really be left behind in the race to net zero” emissions by 2050, he said.

Still, with ample renewable energy and land, a long coastline and access to key minerals from iron ore to lithium, Australia was well-placed to be competitive. “We truly are the lucky country,” Barrett said.

Hysata, meanwhile, was “ahead of plans” reported by Guardian Australia last year in its bid to produce electrolysis with a 95% efficiency. The devices use electricity to split water into hydrogen and oxygen.

The company is able to produce a kilogram with 41.5 kilowatt-hours of electricity, about 20% better than the industry standard of about 52KWh/kg, Barrett said.

What is liquid air energy storage?

 

By Kolawole Yemisi Victoria

Instead of storing energy in compressed air, it can also be stored in liquid air. This is done using excess renewable energy to power a liquefier, which cools and compresses air into a liquid form at -196°C.

This is then stored in a tank until it is needed, at which point it can be released, heated and turned into a gas that powers electricity turbines.

A key benefit of liquid air energy storage (LAES) is it uses existing technology that is readily available and has a lifetime of over 30 years. On the downside, changing the state of energy in this way leads to energy losses and reduces LAES efficiency to 50-70%. This is much less efficient than lithium-ion batteries, which are around 99% efficient, and could jeopardize the viability of LAES.

However, UK firm Highview Power recently announced plans to build the world’s first commercial-scale LAES plant.

Have you read?

Europe’s largest battery storage system goes live in UK

The power couple: Why solar and storage are key to reducing geopolitical risk and securing access to energy

How can we store renewable energy? 4 technologies that can help

Don't miss any update on this topic

Create a free account and access your personalized content collection with our latest publications and analyses.

China's rebound is the biggest unknown facing oil markets, IEA chief says

 

By Olaborede Olugbenga Israel

The International Energy Agency's executive director said Friday that the biggest uncertainty facing global energy markets is the extent to which China rebounds from its extended closure.

"China's economy is rebounding now. How strong this advantage will be will decide the oil and gas market dynamics," Fatih Birol told CNBC Friday.

In its latest monthly Oil Market Report published Wednesday, the energy agency said it expects global oil demand to pick up in 2023, with China accounting for a substantial portion of the projected increase.

Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency (IEA) at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland.

Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency (IEA) at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland.

The International Energy Agency's executive director said Friday that the biggest uncertainty facing global energy markets is the extent to which China rebounds from its extended closure.

Currently, oil markets are "balanced," Fatih Birol told CNBC's Hadley Gamble at the Munich Security Conference. But producers are awaiting signals on forthcoming demand from the world's second largest economy and largest crude oil importer.

"For me, the biggest answer to the energy markets in the next months to come is [from] China," Birol said, noting a major drop-off in the country's oil and gas demand during its pandemic lockdowns.

In its latest monthly Oil Market Report published Wednesday, the energy agency said it anticipates global oil demand will pick up in 2023, with China accounting for a substantial portion of the projected increase.

Oil deliveries are expected to rise by 1.1 million barrels a day to hit 7.2 million barrels a day over the course of 2023, with total demand reaching a record 101.9 million barrels a day, the IEA noted.

If it's a very strong rebound, there may be a need that oil producers will increase their production.

Fatih Birol.

"China's economy is rebounding now," Birol noted. "How strong this advantage will be will decide the oil and gas market dynamics."

He added, "If it's a very strong rebound, there may be a need that oil producers will increase their production."

The IEA chief said that OPEC+ countries, as well as other major oil producing nations such at the U.S., Brazil and Guyana, were poised to ramp up output to meet that demand, should it be needed.

Asked whether President Joe Biden's Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) — with its package of funding aimed at incentivizing clean energies — could stymy production increases in the U.S., Birol said this was unlikely.

"I think it's beyond the government's policies. There is huge, huge money to be made," he said, citing record profits posted by global oil and gas companies in the past year.

IRA the 'most important' climate action since Paris 2015

Birol insisted that the IRA was playing a vital role in accelerating the global clean energy transition, once again hailing it as the "single most important climate action since the Paris agreement [of] 2015."

The IEA head said that the global energy crisis, prompted by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, was "supercharging" the transition to clean energies.

He added that he expects other countries and regions will soon unveil similar clean energy investment packages.

"I'm sure, sooner or later, Europe will come with a similar energy package," he said.

"We are entering a new industrial age: the age of clean energy technology manufacturing," he remarked, citing wind, solar and nuclear energy technologies. "Those will be the key words for the next years to come."