Coal
Aurora has a thermal coal asset that is located in the immediate vicinity of its Nickel and Cobalt assets (on the far right of the below map), allowing us to take advantage of a cheap and reliable source of electricity at an otherwise comparatively remote mining and processing site.
Coal is one of the fossil fuels. The main elements consist of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen.
Based on the level of the formation process which is controlled by pressure, heat and time, coal is generally divided into five classes, namely, anthracite, bituminous, sub-bituminous, lignite and peat.
Coal is an organic sediment whose quality is largely determined by several factors including the location of the basin, age and the amount of contamination. In the use of engine design that uses coal as fuel, it must adjust the quality of the coal so that the engine it uses is durable. As with a Power Plant that uses coal as its main fuel, it must be considered the caloric content in accordance with the design of the generating unit in order to obtain efficient use of energy and the safety of the main equipment of the generating unit itself.
The user of a particular type of coal needs to know the coal quality data that is needed for their particular purpose. This data is obtained from the results of a test analysis. Of the many coal quality parameters, usually only a few are meaningful for the purpose of power generation.
Based on the results of the exploration and the Coal Lab Test originating from the concession area, coal of 3700-4200 kcal / kg and containing around 35% moisture is abundant. Based on the above classification, the coal is a type of lignite coal which is highly suitable for steam power plants.
The power plants built in the mine area will greatly reduce the costs of coal transportation, from the mine location we will use conveyors to send coal to the power plant.
The Coal Steam Power Plant will produce electricity that we will use for heavy equipment to mine coal, nickel, cobalt and to process the mining products into materials for batteries.
With this structure, the power plant at the mine site will reduce the cost of transporting coal, and the battery plant adjacent to the power plant site will benefit from the greatly reduced cost of electricity. With this scheme, the cost of producing batteries and their precursors will be significantly reduced.
Mining
We carry out mining operations using the most effective technologies and equipment, with the key to our success being the high qualification of our employees, their experience and ability.
Long lead item procurement is commencing, including:
• Generators
• Fabrication of special material equipment
Infill drilling program to better define the optimum areas for initial mining is being prepared.
Early construction works are being prepared, including:
• Construction camp
• Water/power utilities
• Site infrastructure
• Earth works
Own Electricity
The thermal coal concession which is immediately adjacent to the nickel-cobalt concessions, provides a unique opportunity for the construction of a mine-mouth coal power plant, and the creation of a cheap supply of electricity immediately adjacent to the nickel-cobalt mining sites, thereby reducing logistics and processing costs.
Detailed engineering and design for the power plant and associated infrastructure is currently being finalized.
The coal is ground into a fine powder using a large mill. This provides almost complete combustion of coal to maximize heat generation and minimize pollutants.
Then pulverized coal is fed to the boiler, where the combustion takes place and the coal provides heat for the power plant. This heat is transferred to pipes containing high pressure water that boils to steam.
Then the steam passes through the turbine, forcing it to rotate, which, in turn, drives the generator that produces electricity. The electricity is fed into our local electrical network for use in production.
Coal power plants follow the Rankine cycle to complete this process. Since this cycle requires a lot of water for circulation, coal-fired power plants should be located near rivers/reservoirs. The process at coal-fired power plants can be seen in the figure below.
.jpg)
