Isra-Mart srl:Australian firm targets Golden wave energy opportunity

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Isra-Mart srl news:

Australian gold exploration company Golden Saint Resources announced yesterday that it is planning to develop a wave energy project in Sierra Leone.

The company has no previous expertise in marine energy, but that has not stopped it agreeing to develop the project as part of a deal with the government of Sierra Leone that will also allow it to advance its mining interests in the country.

Golden Saint chairman Cyril D'Silva told BusinessGreen that the company is currently in negotiations with a number of wave energy specialists to carry out the project.

"We're talking to three firms," he said. "Obviously we have no expertise ourselves as a mining firm, but we will have an interest in co-ordinating the project."

The project will have initial funding of $5m (£3.2m) from the Sierra Leone government, which will be followed by a full $28m grant if the project gets the go-ahead.

Golden Saint is also planning to raise A$30m (£18.6m) in an initial public offering on the Australian Stock Exchange in March to help fund the project.

Sierra Leone is still emerging from the aftermath of a civil war and has virtually no energy infrastructure. The nation's president Ernest Bai Koroma wants to develop an energy grid for the country with a mix of generation including renewables over the next two to three years.

A UN report estimated Sierra Leone's hydropower potential at 1.2GW, while the country is also well endowed with solar and biomass resources.

However, the nation has not yet been able to capitalise on the resources – it only established an energy ministry to co-ordinate policy in 2006 and while some hydropower projects are now nearing completion, much of the country is still not connected to a grid.

"Everything is run from generators at the moment," said D'Silva.

The ministry is also undertaking a study of wind power potential across the nation.

If successful, the deal with Golden Saint could provide an interesting template for other developing countries, providing them with a model whereby they make renewable energy projects a condition of any deal to exploit their mineral resources.