## 1 Introduction  
Industrial energy usage accounts for 40% of the overall global energy demand in 2018, greater than any other end-use sectors [1]. Mining is the second most energy-intensive industry after construction, draining 6.2% of the global energy share [2]. Mine ventilation and refrigeration could account for about 30-40% of a deep underground mine's total energy expense [3]. Mines are going deeper and deeper to meet global consumer needs. In ultra-deep mines (2500 m or deeper), gravitational compression of the intake air sinking in the downcast shaft and geothermal heat acting on the mine ambient can cause a substantial increase in the temperature in association with the depth (auto-compression). Additionally, virgin rock temperature in such mines could be as high as 65 \({}^{\circ}\)C [4] due to the geothermal gradient. However, regardless of auto-compression impact and virgin rock temperature, mine ambient air wet-bulb temperature should not exceed 28 \({}^{\circ}\)C [5]. Consequently, more cooling would be required for such mines to maintain safe climatic conditions. The design of a mine cooling system is usually based on the peak summer condition to ensure year-round, stable cooth generation. However, a refrigeration scheme designed over peak surface load requires a relatively large size of chillers, cooling towers, and condensers due to overestimation of annual demand. This overestimation is inevitable as the peak load acting on these systems are usually seasonal or happen for a very limited period of the year. This results in redundant project cost and could affect the project feasibility negatively. Fortunately, this problem could be solved by employing a 'by-pass' system that could trim the peak cooling demand and help downsize the capital cost. The literature suggests that energy savings in a mine ventilation and refrigeration system could be expanded to 22% of the current trend, reducing it from 17.5 MJ/tonne of ore to 13.6 MJ/tonne of ore [6]. [PERSON] et al. [7] reports annual savings of ZAR 1.65 million (South African Rand) by implementing peak clipping via thermal storage arrangement in deep platinum mine. [PERSON] et al. [8] simulated an energy efficiency strategy to forecast the potential savings of implementing a peak shaving strategy in a real-life mine cooling system and concluded that a decrease of 33% is possible in overall electrical energy consumption. A cooling load management initiative taken in two different South African mines has shown that about 25% of electricity savings is an attainable figure in mine refrigeration [9]. Another energy-saving strategy for a mine cooling system with a power usage of 22 MW resulted in 132 GWh savings, equivalent to 30 million ZAR or 38% of annual refrigeration cost [10]. Undoubtedly, gradual deepening of mines calls for more research in energy generation, storage, and management to overcome future mine refrigeration challenges. This paper proposes a strategy to manage the peak cooling demand of a remote underground mine using ice cubes generated from a solar photovoltaics (PV)-driven refrigeration system. The concept of cooling underground mines via ice goes back to the 1980s [11]. However, back then, the complex and delicate architecture of ice plants made it viable only for mines greater than 3000 m in depth. With improved technology, the reduced cost of mine cooling creates more opportunity to deploy such systems at shallower depths more feasibly. Studies show that the feasible depth has moved from 3000 m in 1980 to 2500 m in 2010 to 1760 m in 2014 [12; 13]. It is important to note that such mines otherwise are cooled with chilled air or chilled water from the surface. It is also worthwhile to mention that the specific heat capacity of water and the latent heat of fusion of ice is about 4.2 and 334 times the specific heat capacity of air, respectively. Chilled air is the most cost-effective cooling solution, but lower specific heat capacity makes it unsuitable to remove extra heat from greater depths.