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    Gold Mining Partners Investigating Geothermal to Complete Nevada Mine’s Decarbonization Work

    Dec. 5, 2024
    Quaise Energy and Barrick think geothermal drilling success could complement recent 200-MW solar project to reduce emissions from coal-fired TS Power Plant in the desert of Eureka County, Nevada.
    Aerial view of a drilling rig from Nabors Industries where Quaise Energy is installing millimeter wave capabilities. Work at Nevada Gold Mines will require a similar setup to develop deep geothermal energy onsite. Image credit Quaise Energy
    Aerial view of a drilling rig from Nabors Industries where Quaise Energy is installing millimeter wave capabilities. Work at Nevada Gold Mines will require a similar setup to develop deep geothermal energy onsite. Image credit Quaise Energy

    Quaise Energy (Quaise) and the Barrick-operated Nevada Gold Mines (NGM), a joint venture with Newmont Corp., are aiming at additional decarbonization of NGM’s coal-fired TS Power Plant with geothermal heat from NGM’s land and subsurface holdings to hybridize on-site power generation.

    NGM has completed constructing a 200-MW solar power plant and is modifying the 240-MW TS Power Plant to use natural gas as a fuel source. NGM and Quaise are investigating deep geothermal energy sources to further reduce the plant’s fossil fuel consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

    Quaise Energy and Barrick think geothermal drilling success could complement a recent 200-MW solar project to reduce emissions from coal-fired TS Power Plant in the desert of Eureka County. The partnership highlights the potential of deep geothermal to decarbonize heavy industrial sectors like mining and support NGM’s 2030 GHG reduction roadmap targets.

    “Deep geothermal can decarbonize critical industrial processes like mining because of its superior power density,” said Carlos Araque, President and CEO of Quaise Energy. “Our millimeter wave drilling technology is the key to unlocking high-grade geothermal heat, repositioning fossil-fired assets for a clean energy future.”

    The retrofit of NGM’s TS Power Plant positions Quaise to go from drilling field trials to complete commercial deployment. Shifting from coal to natural gas is still fossil-fired generation, but can reduce carbon emissions by 50%. Microgrids for mining: Read more here.

    Nabors Industries was contracted to handle drilling operations. NGM, which was jointly formed by Barrick and Newmont in 2019, owns and operates one of the largest gold mining operations in the world, including the Goldstrike, Cortez, Turquoise Ridge, Long Canyon and Twin Creeks mines.

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    About the Author

    EnergyTech Staff

    Rod Walton is senior editor for EnergyTech.com. He has spent 14 years covering the energy industry as a newspaper and trade journalist.

    Walton formerly was energy writer and business editor at the Tulsa World. Later, he spent six years covering the electricity power sector for Pennwell and Clarion Events. He joined Endeavor and EnergyTech in November 2021.

    He can be reached at [email protected]. 

    EnergyTech is focused on the mission critical and large-scale energy users and their sustainability and resiliency goals. These include the commercial and industrial sectors, as well as the military, universities, data centers and microgrids.

    Many large-scale energy users such as Fortune 500 companies, and mission-critical users such as military bases, universities, healthcare facilities, public safety and data centers, shifting their energy priorities to reach net-zero carbon goals within the coming decades. These include plans for renewable energy power purchase agreements, but also on-site resiliency projects such as microgrids, combined heat and power, rooftop solar, energy storage, digitalization and building efficiency upgrades.