Ballard Power Systems (NASDAQ:BLDP) (TSX:BLD) is working with its first customer in the mining industry in hopes of demonstrating there’s a market for its fuel-cell products in the resource sector.
Johannesburg-based Anglo American Platinum, which has been working with Ballard for just over a year, is one of the world’s leading platinum producers and owns operations in several South African mines.
“It’s really an indicator that we’ve now stepped into new market territory,” said Ballard spokesman Guy McAree.
He added that working with a mining customer is significant from a vertical marketing perspective.
McAree said the applications Ballard’s working could open doors to use fuel-cell technology in mining operations worldwide.
The Ballard-Anglo partnership’s first initiative is a 150-kilowatt fuel-cell system that was showcased at the 17th Conference of the Parties, a large international conference on climate change held in South Africa in 2011.
McAree said the generator can provide backup power in a mine, as a cleaner, more reliable alternative to diesel generators.
The partnership is also working on a series of locomotives intended to move equipment around within underground mines. Above-ground testing will be conducted over the next several months to demonstrate the potential for Ballard’s products to be used for this purpose.
McAree said five locomotives, which normally use batteries, are being tested to run on fuel cells instead.
“If the tests are successful, which we certainly think they will be, they’ll eventually redeploy these from above ground to an underground application. These innovative locomotives will provide us with an opportunity to mine platinum in a more economic, energy-secure and environmentally benign manner,” said Anglo American’s CEO Neville Nicolau in a press release May 9. “The locomotives will not require any electricity from the grid to function and will not emit noxious gases.”
Ballard and Anglo American are also working together on a feasibility study for a small-scale electric generator that Ballard could be used as a power source for homes and businesses and be particularly useful in areas where power services are unreliable.
“What happens is you use a fuel reformer that takes the propane or natural gas and actually extracts hydrogen from these fuels and then feeds the fuel cell with the hydrogen.”
McAree added that Ballard and Anglo American are discussing future opportunities for the partnership and further potential applications of fuel-cell technology in mining operations.
