Windiga is Canadian energy developer focused on building, owning and operating renewable energy facilities and off-grid smart power systems in different parts of Africa.

According to GoviEx, both companies’ goal is to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by more than 20,000 tonnes per year and to provide sustainable, renewable power at approximately 25% lower cost than traditional coal-fired options currently available in Niger. Coal-fired power costs are currently forecast at approximately 4% of the total life of mine operating costs.

“We are pleased to begin exploring cleaner energy alternatives to power our future development activities in partnership with Windiga. The benefits of renewable, lower-cost energy are obvious,” said GoviEx chairman Govind Friedland in a press release.

Besides powering the Madaouela project, the plan is to provide electricity to the surrounding local community through a hybrid power plant, combining photovoltaic solar panels and diesel generators with total installed capacity of at least 20 MW.

Madaouela sits on the southeast side of the mining town of Arlit, and was first discovered by the French Commissariat à l’Energie Atomique (CEA) in the 1960s.

The 250-square-kilometre land pack had been explored by a series of different companies until GoviEx Niger Holdings acquired it in 2007. On its website, GoviEx states that three primary mining targets are defined for future development: the Marilyn and Marianne deposits that are located adjacent to each other along a 6.5 km NE-SW strike length, the MSNE and Maryvonne deposits, and the Miriam deposit to the south of the Madaouela I license.