WALNUT, Calif., July 28, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- VIASPACE Inc.
(OTCQB: VSPC) today announced that VIASPACE partner Selectra CC and
the Harmony Gold Mining Company Limited of South Africa made a formal announcement of
Harmony's implementation of the first bioenergy project on mining
property in South Africa. The goal
of the project is to grow energy crops---sugar beets and Giant King
Grass--on contaminated mine affected lands in order to restore and
rehabilitate the land. Gold-mining is a very large industry in
South Africa and there are
thousands of acres of mine tailings and mine affected land that
need to be restored. The announcement was made by Mr. Leonard Rootman of Harmony Gold Mining Company
Limited and Mr. Dwight Rosslee of Selectra at the Renewables and
Mining Summit held in Johannesburg, South
Africa.
Harmony is the third largest gold mining company in South Africa, and the 5th largest gold
producer in the world. Harmony is a publicly listed company on
the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, the Berlin Stock Exchange, and the
New York Stock Exchange.
The project is described in detail in an editorial by
Meghan Sapp published on
July 14, 2014 on sugaronline.com. The
two energy crops included in the project are sugar beets and
VIASPACE Giant King Grass. Excerpts from the editorial are
reproduced below.
"The world over is full of open mines, retired mines, former
mines, illegal mines and tailings. They are an eyesore. Society
needed the metal, the diamonds, and the coal, but then what?...
It's just dead land. But it doesn't have to be. Not now.
"A small biogas company in South
Africa has teamed up with one of the largest mining
companies in the country to seriously tackle the issue of land
rehabilitation and energy security all in one go.
"What began as an idea and then an enormously successful trial
to grow sugarbeet—the temperate kind, not the tropical variety—has
now been extended to include Giant King Grass too. The crops are
grown on the super-fine mine tailings that nothing grows on, let
alone food crops, bringing value back to the land and allowing
Mother Nature to do her work cleaning up the land and returning it
to an agricultural state just by growing beet and Giant King Grass…
Full of toxins, residues, and heavy metals doesn't sound like the
most hospitable environment…
"The plan is to use the beet and the king grass as feedstock for
on-site biogas production at Harmony Gold's mine near Welkom in
South Africa's Free State that
will then be piped into the Harmony 1 Metallurgical plant where it
will be burnt in the place of 'Polyfuel'—an HFO type fuel—in the
thermal oil heaters…
"The project envisioned by Selectra, the growing biogas company
who developed, pitched and eventually sold the idea to Harmony Gold, is not only good for the land and
good for the region, but it also inherently replicable. Any mine in
the world could implement this project, at the appropriate scale
with the appropriate feedstocks, to take control of not only
environmental impact but also energy costs…
"Benefits from the project are a mile long as well: displacing
fossil fuel energy with bioenergy reduces production costs because
bioenergy is cheaper than the current costs of fossil-based energy;
it reduces the mine's carbon footprint and therefore reduces
potential carbon taxes; it reduces redundant infrastructure and
impacted land thereby assisting with mine closure; and even creates
jobs…
"Renewable energy applications in mining aren't particularly
new, but combining with bioenergy and land rehabilitation certainly
is. Most solutions have so far focused on solar applications or
off-grid gensets, but this is the first project to take undervalued
assets and make them work for the mine while getting them back into
agricultural production. This is the first such project but it
certainly won't be the last."
Dwight Rosslee from Selectra commented on how rewarding it is to
develop a project that carries only proven positive impacts: "The
Harmony Bioenergy project is surely the gold standard in the
production of renewable energy - no negative impacts on the
environment, only positive benefits, no question of food versus
fuel as the land cannot sustain food crops due to the presence of
heavy metals. The land is remediated by cultivation and harvesting
of bioenergy crops and local employment in farming activities is
expanded on previously unused lands. Simultaneously, carbon
emissions are reduced through substituting fossil fuels. All this,
and more, while saving on production costs."
VIASPACE CEO, Dr. Carl Kukkonen,
stated, "This project is a major milestone. We applaud and
congratulate Selectra and Harmony for their successful
demonstration. We first delivered Giant King Grass to Selectra in
January 2013 and it was planted on
Harmony land. We were very apprehensive about the project because
the worst mine affected lands called slimes dams were so poor in
quality, we didn't even know if Giant King Grass would grow.
Selectra and Harmony have proven that Giant King Grass can grow
well. The Giant King Grass mitigates erosion and contaminated dust
from the slimes dams, and Selectra has shown that it is a good
feedstock for anaerobic digestion to produce biogas. We believe
that Giant King Grass can be used to remediate a wide range of
contaminated soil and to make it productive. This will be another
business opportunity for VIASPACE. We welcome others interested in
biological remediation to contact VIASPACE."
Mr. Rosslee concluded, "Giant King Grass should have a bright
future in South Africa and other
African countries as it plays a critical role in a number of our
programs including off grid power solutions."
Pictures of Giant King Grass growing on the Harmony land in
South Africa are available on the
VIASPACE Facebook page www.facebook.com/viaspaceinc.
About VIASPACE Inc.
VIASPACE grows renewable Giant
KingTM Grass as a low-carbon fuel for clean electricity
generation; for environmentally friendly energy pellets; and as a
feedstock for bio-methane production and for green cellulosic
biofuels, biochemicals and biomaterials. Giant King Grass is a proprietary, high yield,
dedicated biomass energy crop. Giant King
Grass when it is cut frequently at 4 to 9 feet tall is also
excellent animal feed. The USDA granted approval for planting Giant
King Grass throughout the US and cooperates in exporting by
performing the required inspections and issuing the phytosanitary
certificate needed for import into foreign countries. Giant
King Grass is being grown in
California, Arizona, Hawaii, St. Croix Virgin Islands, Nicaragua, South
Africa, China, Myanmar, Pakistan, Guyana and Jamaica. For more
information, please go to www.VIASPACE.com or contact Dr.
Jan Vandersande, Director of
Communications, at 800-517-8050 or IR@VIASPACE.com.
About Selectra
Selectra, established in 1987, is one
of the pioneers of the biogas industry in South
Africa. Selectra utilises the expertise of experienced
biologists and engineers, to offer the design, development and
implementation of sustainable solutions in the waste, energy and
water sectors globally, to clients in agriculture, industry, mining
and infrastructure. For more information see the Selectra website
http://www.selectra.co.za or contact Dwight Rosslee at
dwight@selectra.co.za.
Safe Harbor Statement
Information in
this news release includes forward-looking statements. These
forward-looking statements relate to future events or future
performance and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and
other factors that may cause our actual results, levels of
activity, performance or achievements to be materially different
from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking
statements. Such factors include, without limitation, risks
outlined in our periodic filings with the U.S. Securities and
Exchange Commission, including Annual Report on Form 10-K for the
year ended December 31, 2013, and
other factors over which VIASPACE has little or no control.
SOURCE VIASPACE Inc.