OREANDA-NEWS. Given Canada’s cold climate, which goes as low as -40°C, and the need to keep facilities there constantly heated, our nickel operation in Voisey’s Bay, Canada, has successfully adopted measures to save energy and generate alternative sources of heat.

Six diesel generators are generally needed to supply the mine and mill with electricity. To optimize this energy use, a recovery system that captures residual heat in the generators has been implemented. This heat is then distributed in a closed circuit that heats the site’s buildings throughout the year.

This reduces the use of non-renewable fuel, eliminates greenhouse gas emissions and reduces costs. To make even better use of the system developed, the circuit has been expanded to three local furnaces, which now use the residual heat source instead of fossil fuel.