Anglo American Annual Report 2012

Our performanceAnglo American’s energy consumptionhas increased by 6 million gigajoules(GJ) year-on-year to 108 million GJin 2012. The rise is primarily as a resultof electricity consumption increasesat Los Bronces copper mine andNickel’s Barro Alto operation. A furtherincrease of 1 million GJ at MetallurgicalCoal as a result of productionincreases at the open cut mineswas mitigated by a relatively smallreduction at Platinum arising fromindustrial action. These increases werefurther mitigated by 215 energy-savingprojects, accounting for reductions ofnearly 5% (equal to saving 4 million GJof energy and $75 million), that werecompleted in 2012.Anglo American’s greenhouse gasemissions (GHG) have droppedslightly year-on-year from 19 Mtof CO 2equivalent (CO 2e) emissionsto 18 Mt of CO 2e in 2012. An expectedrise in GHG emissions associatedwith increased energy consumptionwas mitigated by methanemanagement activities at MetallurgicalCoal and our decision to discontinuepublic reporting on methaneemissions associated withspontaneous combustion (1) .(1)The reason for this is two-fold: our peers do notreport on emissions from spontaneous combustionand there is currently no consistent methodology fordoing so. We will, however, continue to monitor andmanage these emissions internally.MANAGING METHANEMethane emissions representa significant challenge to ourunderground coal mining operationsin Australia and South Africa. Asmethane is 21 times more damagingto the environment than carbondioxide (CO 2 ), we have made it apriority to identify and implementtechnologies that will mitigate theimpact of this greenhouse gas (GHG)and transform an environmentalliability into an asset.Methane is found, in differingconcentrations, in the majority ofcoal seams. For safety reasons, itneeds to be continually ventilatedfor underground mines but its impacton the environment also has to beconsidered. Since 2008, we havebeen piping methane-rich gas fromour underground Moranbah Northand Capcoal mines to two dedicatedgas fired power stations. Whenburned, methane is one of thecleanest fossil fuels, producing lessCO 2 for each unit of heat producedthan other hydrocarbon fuels. Bycapturing methane, the two powerstations together prevent 2.5 Mtof CO 2 equivalent emissions fromentering the atmosphere eachyear – the equivalent of taking500,000 cars off the road, orplanting 3.6 million trees – andgenerate 77 MW of electricity forthe Australian national grid, whichis enough to power 48,000 homesper year.In South Africa, our New Denmarkmine has helped to design anddevelop a ‘world first’ mobile flaringsystem that will reduce its annualmethane emissions from ventilationboreholes by an expected 15%.Flaring burns off methane, renderingit 18.5 times less harmful to theenvironment than venting. Underthe Kyoto Protocol, methane flaringis an eligible Clean DevelopmentMechanism activity. The projectcould therefore generate more than$8 million in revenue in its firstdecade through the sale of CertifiedEmission Reduction (CER) credits,depending on prevailing CER prices.Another facet to this challenge isthe ventilation systems, which runcontinuously and require significantenergy. At Goedehoop mine wehave reduced our GHGs related toventilated air methane by improvinghow we manage these systems. Byisolating the areas underground thatrequire ventilation and identifyingand addressing any leaks, we havereduced the amount of methaneflushed out of the machinery aswell as the electricity required to runthe ventilation system. Ventilationsystems at other underground minesin Thermal Coal are also set to beoptimised, contributing greatlytowards our 2015 ECO 2 MAN targets.ImageSenior project manager Ellis Lawrie (foreground) andEnergy Developments Limited project managerMichael Ball inspect a gas engine at the Capcoalunderground waste coal mine gas power station.Operating and financial reviewAnglo American plc Annual Report 2012 31