Archives: Sustainable mining

“We are showing what technology can do today.” These were the words Mats Eriksson, President of Sandvik Mining and Rock Solutions, during the Capital Markets Day in Tampere, Finland, last week when describing the launch of Sandvik’s latest battery-electric concept surface drill rig. This rig is representative of more than just technological advances in the[…]

South Africa-headquartered PGMs and gold mining major Sibanye-Stillwater has announced the financial close and start of construction of two additional renewable energy projects for its SA operations. Aside from South Africa, the company is an emerging lithium producer through the Keliber project in Finland plus in the US produces PGMs at the Stillwater and East[…]

Rio Tinto will replace its entire fossil diesel consumption with renewable diesel at its Kennecott copper operation in Utah from 2024, the mining company has confirmed. Kennecott’s fleet of 90 haul trucks and all heavy machinery will begin to transition to renewable diesel in the March quarter of 2024, along with consumption from the concentrator,[…]

Fortescue earlier this year delivered a prototype Offboard Power Unit to power a converted Liebherr electric R 9400 E excavator previously delivered to the Christmas Creek iron ore operation, part of the Chichester Hub. In a video update this week, the beginning of the electric excavator trial under hydrogen fuel cell derived power is shown with[…]

The Weir Group has completed a comprehensive study that highlights a significant opportunity to reduce energy use and emissions in comminution by leveraging three alternative technology combinations. The study, presented by Paula Cousins, Chief Strategy and Sustainability Officer at Weir, during a COP28 panel discussion hosted by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry of[…]

Metso is introducing a new version of the Optimus™ Pellet optimiser to, it says, further strengthen its digital offering for traveling grate iron ore pelletising plants. Optimus Pellet optimiser is a digital optimiser system which runs the pellet plants at maximum profitability full automatically. The upgrade contains new embedded process intelligence that can assist plant[…]

Rio Tinto has approved a US$77 million (A$110 million) pre-feasibility study (PFS) to progress development of the Rhodes Ridge project, one of the world’s best undeveloped iron ore deposits, in the East Pilbara in Western Australia. The commencement of a PFS follows completion of an Order of Magnitude study that considered development of an operation[…]

The safety and environmental advantages of dual salt emulsions are gaining more attention from the mining sector as companies pursue more ambitious environmental, social and governance (ESG) goals, according to BME Global Product Manager, Dr Rakhi Pathak. Pathak says dual salt emulsions have proven themselves as less harmful in terms of potential nitrate contamination and[…]

Aggreko has successfully won the bid to build, own and operate a 12.4 MW solar farm and 8.8 MW/2.1 MWh Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) under a long-term power purchase agreement for Rio Tinto’s Amrun project in Weipa, 800 km from Cairns in far north Queensland. Rio Tinto said the project, which will supplement power[…]

Back in June 2021, Hitachi Construction Machinery (HCM) and ABB announced that they were collaborating on an all-battery electric mining truck, which would draw the power it needed for operations from an overhead trolley catenary line while simultaneously charging the on-board energy storage system based on ABB high power and long-life battery technology. Then in March[…]