A team of two senior executives from the transnational mining company, Newmont, visited The Energy Center (TEC) from 12 to 13 January 2011.  The team was interested in exploring with TEC Fellows how Newmont could meet its energy needs, including fuel for transportation and electricity for industrial machines, using clean energy sources like biodiesel from oil palm or Jatropha.  The Newmont team consisted of Ron Miller (Energy Manager for the Africa Region) and Emmanuel Teye-Adjei (External Relations Manager in charge of Supply Chain Management).  

For the first day of their visit, Wednesday 12 January, the team visited the Kumasi Abattoir in the company of TEC Associates from the Centre for Energy Environment and Sustainable Development (CEESD), notably Mssrs Julius Ahiekpor and David Ato Quansah.  The TEC Director (Prof Abeeku Brew-Hammond) then joined the Newmont team to visit to one saw mill (Maxwell Owusu Timbers, Kumasi) and a vegetable oil mill (Golden Web Ltd), both in Kumasi.

On the second day, Thursday 13 January, the TEC Director and the Project Leader a TEC biofuels project sponsored by Trust Africa, Dr Ahmad Addo, had a 2-hour meeting with the Newmont Team to discuss energy issues of common interest to Newmont and TEC.  This was followed with a seminar attended by some twenty TEC Fellows and Associates with the presentations:

•    Jatropha Germplasm in Ghana (Mr Eric Owusu Danquah);
•    Local Manufacturing Capabilities for Biodiesel in Ghana (Mr Joseph Akowuah);
•    Biogas power plant feasibility (Mr Richard Arthur); and
•    A 1MW Solar PV system @ KNUST (Mr Ebenezer Nyarko Kumi ).
     
For copies of the PowerPoint Presentations made at the seminar, please click here.

To visit the photo gallery with pictures on the whole Newmont Visit, please click here.