Tag Archives: mine decarbonisation

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The EMC ready to hand over the baton in mining’s decarbonisation race

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The Electric Mine Consortium is not Graeme Stanway’s first innovation rodeo. As the founder of State of Play, a global research platform in natural resources, energy and infrastructure, which also publishes the largest survey on strategy and innovation in mining, he has engaged with many individual and groups of companies looking to spur on mining innovation.

State of Play is the custodian of the EMC and is responsible for bringing almost 20 companies all focused on accelerating progress towards the fully electrified zero CO2 and zero particulates mine together.

Stanway, as Chair of the EMC, has had a front row seat for this journey over the last four years, and was aware the time would come to ‘wrap up’ the consortium’s proceedings – expected on September 30.

“We always knew it was a fixed term,” he told IM. “To be honest, I thought it would be sooner. When we first started, a three-year engagement period sounded about right if things worked well. There is only so long you can keep a core group of companies and people on such an intense innovation journey.”

Four years might sound short – according to Stanway and State of Play’s data it’s the average period that business’ plan their innovation journeys for – but the electrification landscape has changed substantially in that period.

“When we started there was no significant electrification simulation capability, not really any specialised consulting, limited engineering services,” he said. “Now, you can go out and get a study and people are already building mines that are 90% powered off renewables. We also have metrics being introduced that could have a noticeable impact on the way projects go through FIDs.

“The large production equipment is the one thing that is left, but people now know the pathways they need to follow. They would acquire this electric equipment tomorrow if the incentives were there. This would accelerate equipment supply and bring capital costs down, creating a virtuous cycle of adoption.”

He can reference a white paper released by EMC members Perenti and IGO, along with ABB, in May, as an example of how an all-electric mine is possible. It can also be argued that the Australian underground mining sector has caught up and, in some respects, overtaken its rivals in Canada when it comes to electrification. This includes its leading status as an off-grid renewable energy pioneer, as well as hosting the first trial of the world’s biggest underground battery-electric truck at Sunrise Dam in Western Australia’s Goldfields region.

The numbers also back this up, with the EMC starting with five mining companies and getting to 13 in the end. The EMC has also overseen more than 15 non-commercial engagement forums with OEMs and CEOs.

Graeme Stanway (left) moderating a panel session at The Electric Mine 2024, in Perth, in May

Yet, the EMC’s influence goes beyond this, according to Stanway.

Major and mid-tier Canadian gold miners – Agnico Eagle Mines and New Gold, for example – have generously provided valuable input to specific EMC teams, while a significant amount of suppliers engaged with and learnt from that core group of 13 mining companies.

“Many of the small suppliers used this experience as a product and business development opportunity,” Stanway says. “This also benefitted the mining companies that were able to realise new solutions or services in the marketplace.”

One area that Stanway reflects on as lagging his initial expectations was getting trials off the ground.

The EMC has seen over 70 equipment trials across all fleet types, supplemented by an industry first data sharing platform. This has led to accelerated equipment adoption, but Stanway still thinks there could have been more, particularly with larger production equipment.

“I underestimated how quickly trials would get off the ground,” he said. “Even after everyone’s aspirations were laid out and there was a broad understanding of the technology at hand and the opportunities to be had with these, the momentum slowed in terms of moving to trial and adoption stages.”

He also laments that the initial push to accelerate progress towards the fully electrified zero CO2 and zero particulates mine did not result in an overarching commitment to fully remove diesel particulate matter (DPM) from the underground mining sector.

At The Electric Mine 2024 in May, Chris Carr, Acting COO of IGO, said stricter standards for airborne DPM emissions in Australia and elsewhere would “push electrification a lot harder”.

MasterMined Innovation CEO, Tony Sprague, added to this, telling The Electric Mine 2024 that DPM, and specifically nano-DPM, was “the elephant in the room” and the “real driver of getting diesel out of the underground mine and to achieve the electric mine”. He explained: “There is a new [emission] target that is coming from Safe Work Australia that is not far away. When it’s going to land we’re not too sure, but if it does land it’s going to be very problematic for the industry.”

Stanway said some of this reticence could be tied to the “portfolio mentality” of some of the larger mining companies with legacy assets, and a lack of acknowledgement from leaders on the health and safety risks that come with going underground at existing operations.

“The one thing that hasn’t happened with electrification is the wholesale change in leadership intent to shift as fast as possible,” Stanway says. “A lot of these targets, particularly production equipment conversion, are set to beyond 2030 which is outside of the purview of what gets the attention of the current crop of CEOs.

“I think it is the leadership intent that is needed as much as the technology development in this space. Once the leadership intent ‘flips’, the momentum will step up another gear.”

Progress towards the fully electrified zero CO2 and zero particulates mine has still been vast, he acknowledged, saying that the investment climate and mentality has shifted to help fund new technology adoption.

“People are now open to spending more money in areas that come with uncertain outcomes,” he says, referencing investments in artificial intelligence (AI). “In that regard, it’s not just the quantum of money that has increased, it’s also the willingness to spend money in areas that they wouldn’t have before.”

This shift will benefit other complementary areas of mine electrification and decarbonisation – such as automation, AI and energy sourcing.

Yet, there is no obvious next consortium opportunity on the horizon, according to Stanway.

“Electrification was that rare beast in that it was decarbonisation driven so wasn’t competitive at the time we started,” he said. “These types of opportunities only come around once in a while. In that regard, I’m glad we were able to make such an impact in a short space of time, and we’re able to hand the baton onto the consortium members and the broader industry to advance these areas further.”

Orica and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries team up to tackle decarbonisation

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Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) and Orica have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to explore potential opportunities for collaboration on emission-reduction initiatives, aligned with Orica and MHI’s shared decarbonisation ambitions.

The collaboration will leverage MHI’s reputation for manufacturing excellence and innovation, as well as Orica’s existing presence and emerging opportunities in the global renewable hydrogen and ammonia markets, the companies say.

The collaboration covers various areas of mutual interest, including:

  • Exploring technology deployment opportunities for renewable hydrogen and renewable ammonia production near Orica’s facilities in Newcastle and Gladstone, Australia;
  • Creating demand opportunities for renewable hydrogen and renewable ammonia in the power generation, maritime, industrial and agricultural industries;
  • Investigating activities to further reduce emissions from Orica’s existing operations.

Orica says it is building a strong pathway towards achieving net zero emissions by latest 2050, while positioning the business for a lower carbon world. Orica’s continued partnerships and investment in decarbonisation and the production of renewable hydrogen and renewable ammonia will support Orica’s sustainability goals and also support the individual goals of existing and future customers, including in key Asian growth markets such as Japan.

Orica Chief Development and Sustainability Officer, Andrew Stewart, said: “We are delighted to partner with MHI, a company that shares our vision and commitment to a more sustainable future. This collaboration signals another step towards building Orica’s climate resilience and opportunities to support further growth while supporting our customers to achieve their ESG goals. We look forward to working with MHI to explore potential emissions reduction opportunities for our organisations and our customers.”

On the signing of the MoU, Dr Hitoshi Kaguchi, Senior Executive Vice President at MHI responsible for energy transition and the expansion of growth fields, said: “It is a great honour to be able to collaborate with Orica, a leader in decarbonising hard to abate industry and developing low carbon fuel value chain in Australia. We are looking forward to contributing to Orica’s net zero ambition through our reliable technology in the future.”

Zero emission haul truck developments on the IMARC 2023 agenda

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IMARC 2023 is off to a bang, with two of the first keynote interviews – featuring speakers from Fortescue and BHP – kicking off what is expected to be a constant flurry of mining technology news.

During a Mining Keynote Interview, titled, ‘The Reshaping of the Fortescue Business: A Showcase of the Past, Present and Future of the Mining and Resources’ Industry,’ Dino Otranto (pictured on the right), CEO of Fortescue, talked up the mining company’s ‘Real Zero’ terrestrial emissions (Scope 1 and 2) 2030 aim.

Speaking to Jennifer Hewett (pictured on the left), National Affairs Columnist, The Australian Financial Review, Otranto highlighted the recent arrival of the first 240-t-class Liebherr Mining T 264 trucks at its Eliwana iron ore mining site in the Pilbara of Western Australia, which is expected to be converted to Fortescue’s in-house battery solution developed by WAE in the near term.

Looking further out, Otranto said the company’s first zero emission fleet at Eliwana was expected to be “on parity” with the diesel haulage equivalent from a cost and productivity perspective. “In the future, they could be even more productive,” he added.

Fortescue is currently working on a number of “zero emission” solutions across its mining operations – battery-electric and green hydrogen, among them – and Otranto said the company was confident that the electric powertrain is “the future”, with the system that generates the power to supply this being “agnostic”.

“In the future, we will not be beholden by the OEM and a single product,” he said, explaining that the captive energy source tied to where the resources and reserves were located would play a crucial role in the chosen system.

Soon after Otranto left the stage, Hewett was joined by James Agar, Group Procurement Officer at BHP, for another keynote interview, titled ‘The Importance of Supplier and Community Partnerships to Create Value’.

Agar was quick to pick up from where Otranto left off, referencing the company’s own zero-emission haulage plans, which included the expected rollout of a zero emissions truck at its operations next year. The company has previously signalled that a Cat Early Learner battery truck could come arrive for trials at its operations in 2024.

Alongside this, Agar referenced ongoing work with Bridgestone and Michelin related to battery-electric haul truck developments.

“We have realised that if we reduce the rolling resistance of tyres by 1-2%, it can have a big impact on battery life,” he said. “Equally, these trucks are going to be able to travel at faster speeds, so tyre life will be affected. This is another area we are studying.”

WAE to open new facility in Oxfordshire focused on zero-emission, off-road solutions

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Fortescue Future Industries says it is significantly expanding its battery and electric powertrain production operations in the UK with the announcement of an additional state-of-the-art facility in Oxfordshire.

Fortescue Chairman, Andrew Forrest, said the expansion is part of Fortescue’s commitment to grow its British presence through the recent integration of British manufacturers WAE (formerly Williams Advanced Engineering).

“With Fortescue’s investment, British engineering will be at the cutting edge of the green energy economy with WAE’s battery systems providing world leading technology to the entire global industrial sector,” Dr Forrest said.

Following entry-into-force of the Australia-UK Free Trade Agreement, Fortescue will open a new state-of-the-art site in Banbury, Oxfordshire, significantly expanding its UK manufacturing capability, supplying advanced batteries and electric powertrains globally.

The new location will be focused on production of a wide range of zero-emission products for the off-road sector including trucks and trains. It will form part of a new global business aimed at driving decarbonisation in all fields of economic activity, while building sovereign capabilities in emerging technology.

The factory will cover over 13,500 sq.m in total and employ over 120 highly-skilled engineers, technicians, apprentices and graduates, with recruitment for the industrialisation program starting now, FFI said.

The integration follows Fortescue gearing up to meet growing global demand for the development, manufacture and supply of advanced electrification technology solutions to the off-highway sector.

The new Banbury facility will operate alongside Fortescue’s other Oxfordshire facilities including the Kidlington factory, which will open later this year. The Banbury site will be a purpose-built facility focusing primarily on manufacturing of heavy industry, electric/zero-emission powertrain systems. It will offer automated assembly for battery modules and packs, assembly of power conversion and power systems, as well as truck and train production support.

The first prototype build is targeted for July/August 2023 with the first mining haul truck module due for completion in August 2023.

The site will officially open in 2024 and will create job opportunities across all levels, including apprentices and graduates, acting as showcases for a future rollout by WAE of further global high-tech manufacturing hubs.

JUWI commissions ‘world’s largest’ solar hybrid project at Egyptian mine site

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JUWI says it has commissioned the world’s largest solar hybrid project at Centamin’s Sukari mine in Egypt, helping the gold miner save more than 20 million litres of diesel a year.

The system consists of a 36 MW solar farm and a 7.5 MW battery-energy storage system, which have been integrated into the existing diesel power station at the operation. This will provide savings of up to 70,000 liters of diesel per day, according to JUWI, resulting in an average reduction in diesel consumption of 22 million liters per year.

The system demonstrates the key role of renewable energies in decarbonising the resource sector and already delivers savings ahead of expectations, according to JUWI.

Centamin noted in October that it was in the final stages of commissioning the solar plant at the operation.

The solar system designed by JUWI has maximised the generation with bifacial solar photovoltaic modules and a single axis tracking system, taking advantage of the high irradiance on site. JUWI Hybrid IQ micro-grid technology enables the integration of the solar and battery system into the existing off-grid network and supports the operation of the existing power station, it says.

The additional benefits of the hybrid power solution at Sukari, according to JUWI, include lowering the site’s carbon emissions by an estimated 60,000 t CO2/y and a subsequent reduction in the volume of diesel trucked to the site, plus a reduction in operating costs

Stephan Hansen, COO and Managing Director of JUWI,said: “We are delighted to have been able to deliver this flagship project to Centamin and, furthermore, to have been able to demonstrate the vital role that dependable solar, wind and battery solutions can already play in the transformation of the resource sector on the de-carbonisation pathway.”

JUWI has already achieved success for mining clients globally with the world’s first utility scale solar battery hybrid project at the DeGrussa Copper mine in Australia. This was followed by Agnew Gold (Australia) in 2019 and another six hybrid projects in Australia and Africa for Tier 1 and Mid Tier miners: Esperance, Pan African Resources, Jacinth Ambrosia, Jabiru, Weipa and Gruyere.

Electric Mine Consortium launches Surface Long Haul EV Challenge

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The Electric Mine Consortium (EMC) – made up of Evolution Mining, South32, Newcrest and a total of 21 major industry players – has launched a Surface Long Haul EV Challenge, calling on the automotive and electric vehicle (EV) industry for solutions in its mission to establish decarbonised mine sites.

The EMC’s call out to companies in the tech, renewable and manufacturing industries is looking for ground-breaking solutions to long haul EV trucks and associated charging infrastructure for mine sites and global supply chains.

Driven by collective demand for electric equipment across the EMC’s operating sites, spread over six continents, the consortium is looking to form synergies between mining and non-mining industries to accelerate decarbonisation solutions across the industry – the mining industry currently contributes 8% of the globe’s emissions.

EMC Founder and Director, Graeme Stanway, explains there’s currently no equipment and associated infrastructure solution that’s available at scale, in line with mining companies’ operational needs.

“The mining industry’s path to electrification is where the car industry was 10 years ago,” Stanway said. “We have the technology, but it needs acceleration and adaptation to meet the needs of varied mine sites across the world.”

He says there’s a big opportunity to recreate mining from a place of siloed communication between companies to a point where collective strategy drives the industry to drastically reduce and ultimately eliminate carbon emissions, through electrification.

“We have the world’s largest data platform of shared knowledge surrounding renewables in mining,” Stanway said. “Through the Surface Long Haul EV Challenge, we’ll be working to accelerate, pilot and convert all new fleets to electric with detailed use case studies for knowledge sharing across the industry.

“If we can solve this for our freight in mining, imagine the impact we can have on the rest of the transport market. Mining has a great opportunity to flip the perception…from being seen on the wrong end of the ledger, to being a leader.”

The EMC is now seeking businesses who can design or supply electric long-haul equipment solutions.

Weir Group commits to more ambitious Scope 1, 2 and 3 emission goals

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The Weir Group says it has submitted new, more ambitious Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions reduction targets to the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi) for validation.

The move, which follows its commitment, in December 2021, to set SBTi targets, could see the company include absolute reductions in Scope 1 and 2 emissions of 30% and Scope 3 emissions of 15% by 2030, versus a 2019 baseline.

Weir Group explained: “The targets are more ambitious than our previous goals, set in 2020, in two ways:

  • “Switching from an intensity to an absolute emissions reduction basis will drive deeper cuts in Scope 1 and 2 emissions; and
  • “The new Scope 3 commitment adds targets for emissions in Weir’s upstream and downstream value chain for the first time.”

These new targets will make a significant contribution to decarbonising the mining industry, according to Weir. Delivering them would mean that, in 2030, an annual reduction of circa 4.2 Mt CO2e is achieved, equivalent to the annual CO2 emissions of almost 1 million petrol cars.

Weir is focused on developing engineered solutions for smarter, more efficient and sustainable mining, providing customers with new value-adding technologies for use in the most energy intensive processes in the mine, it says.

“With 97% of our total emissions falling within Scope 3, over the lifetime of our products in use, we recognise that our biggest contribution to decarbonising mining will come from delivering sustainable solutions to accompany the industry’s transition to low-carbon energy sources,” the company said.

“The mining industry is critical to the global energy transition as it extracts the raw materials needed to implement new, greener technologies. However, it is energy intensive and so has to meet this increasing demand while delivering on its own environmental commitments. Therefore, it is imperative that we actively partner with customers and others across the industry to drive the broader energy transition required.”

Jon Stanton, Weir Group CEO, said: “These new, more ambitious targets mark another important step in our strategy and strengthen our commitment to further reduce emissions from our own operations and in our wider value chain. Weir’s products and solutions already have a positive impact on the energy efficiency of our customers’ operations, but we recognise that more needs to be done. Our customers are pushing us to innovate lower carbon, more energy efficient solutions and we are stepping up to this. We continue to push boundaries at pace to develop smarter, more efficient and more sustainable solutions for the global mining industry that will enable the delivery of the natural resources essential to create a better future for the world.”

Electric Mine Consortium partners with AWS on world-first mine decarbonisation platform

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Australia’s Electric Mine Consortium (EMC), made up of some of the world’s leading mining and service companies, has announced it is working with Amazon Web Services (AWS), an Amazon.com company, to accelerate the electrification of mine sites globally.

Announced at AWS Summit 2022, EMC is using AWS’s depth and breadth of services, including machine learning, business intelligence and storage, to build the world’s first mining data platform, to capture real-time information on mine decarbonisation from sites globally.

To drive decarbonisation, mining companies can use the platform to measure energy storage levels and electrical infrastructure use from global mine sites to accelerate the creation of a cleaner, more electrified future in mining, EMC said.

Co-founder of the EMC, Graeme Stanway, says the platform can help enable EMC members to share sustainability insights and analyse the outcomes of adopting electrified mining infrastructure and sustainable operations.

“The way we generate, store and harness energy around the globe is changing drastically,” Stanway said. “EMC’s collaboration with AWS will help see us at the forefront of this change, driving the mining industry’s electrification at scale.”

Stanway said the industry is crying out for tools to decarbonise due to tightening government emission reduction targets, increasing environmental, social and governance pressure, and the industry being responsible for 7% of the greenhouse gas emissions globally.

“Like the electric vehicle industry, electric mines are the future” Stanway said. “Not only can they be safer through the eradication of diesel particulates, pollution, noise and vibrations, they can also be more targeted, precise and effective when it comes to mining, and yield stronger results than traditional mines with minimal ground disturbance.”

As part of the initiative, EMC created a “data lake” using Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3), a cloud object storage service, that can securely store thousands of datasets from the consortium’s mines, including data on energy consumption and renewable energy infrastructure output.

EMC can then clean the data and run data pipelines using AWS Step Functions, a low-code, visual workflow service; AWS Glue, a serverless data integration service; and AWS Lambda, a serverless, event-driven compute service. AWS Glue can provide EMC with data catalogue functionality, and AWS Lake Formation, a service that makes it easy to set up a secure data lake in days, can deliver security and access control.

Amazon QuickSight, a business intelligence service (screenshot pictured), can allow everyone in the consortium to explore and understand mining data through user-friendly interactive dashboards that identify efficiency practices that may reduce emissions, according to EMC.

Also, using Amazon SageMaker, a fully managed service to build, train, and deploy machine learning models, EMC can train machine-learning models to predict energy usage spikes at mines and track the carbon efficiency of deploying sustainable energy infrastructure.

Sarah Bassett, Head of Mining and Energy, Australia at AWS, said: “Data capture and analysis is essential to mining operations, and AWS is helping consortium members to share their critical datasets and collective insights to drive the digitisation and evolution of the industry. I am excited to be collaborating with the EMC and its consortium members to improve the design of mines globally and accelerate the industry’s journey to decarbonisation on the global scale.”

The EMC is a growing group of over 20 mining and service companies. These companies are driven by the imperative to produce zero-emission products for their customers and meet mounting investor expectations. Thus, the objective of the EMC is to accelerate progress toward the zero-carbon and zero-particulate mine through:

  • Resolving key technology choices;
  • Shaping the supplier ecosystem;
  • Influencing policy; and
  • Communicating the business case

The EMC is emerging as a key vehicle for the decarbonisation of the mining industry, particularly for underground operations, and will remain responsive to the rapidly changing external environment.

Members include OZ Minerals, Newcrest Mining, Gold Fields, IGO, South32, Blackstone Minerals, Evolution Mining, Barminco and Iluka Resources.

Zenith Energy to roll out 5B Maverick solar system across Australian mine sites

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Renewable energy penetration is set to increase on major mine sites in the Goldfields and Pilbara regions of Australia, after Zenith Energy and 5B signed a deployment agreement that could see the 5B Maverick™ system rolled out.

Zenith, one of Australia’s leading independent power producers, and 5B, a clean energy technology provider, signed an Ecosystem Framework Agreement-Deployment, permitting Zenith to be a deployment partner of the 5B Maverick system within Australia.

The 5B Maverick system solar array is prefabricated, allowing rapid deployment while increasing the ability of Zenith to expand renewable assets across existing and future sites, Zenith said. Each 5B Maverick array consists of up to 90 solar panels, mounted on specially designed racks, and optimised for the 540-550 W module class of the utility scale solar industry.

Zenith Managing Director, Hamish Moffat, said the partnership represents the next step in reducing emissions across Zenith’s legacy portfolio.

“We’ve been looking to increase renewable assets across multiple sites for some time; the question has always been around how we can achieve that in such a way that is economically viable,” he said. “The 5B Maverick system is re-deployable, meaning it can be integrated on mines with shorter tenure, and moved at the end of operations at those sites.”

He added: “It offers Zenith greater ability to leverage value from our initial capital expenditure, making it more cost effective to offer expanded renewable energy solutions for our clients.”

5B Co-Founder and CEO, Chris McGrath, said the strategic partnership is an important validation of 5B Maverick’s ability to reduce deployment complexity.

“This has been a major barrier for solar installations on mine sites worldwide,” he said. “The agreement also shows that our cost reduction efforts over the past two years have worked – we’ve hit the price point where 5B Mavericks can be viably packed up and redeployed elsewhere, substantially reducing the risk of stranded assets in mining, agricultural and industrial operations.”

Moffat said Zenith is looking to integrate the 5B Maverick system across three sites initially. These include:

  • Nova: The 5B Maverick will play a major role in Zenith’s industry first ‘engine-off’ project at IGO’s Nova nickel mine, allowing the site to operate on up to nine consecutive hours of renewable energy through the installation of an extra 10 MW of solar, and a 10 MW battery energy storage system;
  • Warrawoona: Zenith recently committed to the supply, installation, and commissioning of a 4 MW DC Solar Farm, using the 5B Maverick, as well as a 3 MW/3 MWh AC battery energy storage system at Warrawoona, owned by Calidus Resources. The hybrid power station configuration will reduce gas use, which in turn results in a reduction in emissions; and
  • King of The Hills: Work is currently underway to install 2 MW of 5B Maverick on the Red 5 site, also supported by a battery energy storage system.

Moffat said the 5B agreement is another key milestone on the company’s journey toward ‘net zero’.

“Our 2035 ‘net zero’ target strikes a balance between ambition and ability to achieve, with the 5B partnership a clear demonstration of our progress and commitment to this goal,” he said.

McGrath said 5B was keen to partner with Zenith, given the independent power producer’s strong reputation and credibility in providing renewable energy solutions to the mining and resources industry.

“We’re keen to develop mutually beneficial partnerships with like-minded companies, and Zenith definitely fits the bill,” he said. “It is great to see Zenith leveraging the ability of the 5B Maverick solar arrays to deploy up to 10 times faster, more safely than single axis tracker and fixed tilt solar systems, to deliver a full solution for their customers.”

Moffat said the partnership offers both Zenith and 5B the opportunity to continue to lead the industry, demonstrating the ability and capacity to effectively integrate renewable energy solutions.

“We have continually said we want to be part of the renewable solution, not just by developing the concepts needed, but by also actively deploying and proving the technology,” he said. “The partnership with 5B allows us to do this and continue to bring our clients on the glide path to ‘net zero’.”

Newmont’s Gosteva urges action to achieve mining industry’s decarbonisation goals

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Partnerships between miners and mining equipment, technology and service (METS) providers will prove key in solving the emissions reductions and sustainability targets mining companies have set for 2030 and beyond, Victoria Gosteva, Decarbonisation Program Manager at Newmont, said at the SME MineXchange Annual Conference & Expo in Salt Lake City today.

While outlining Newmont’s Energy & Decarbonization Program on stage, Gosteva made important statements about how the wider industry could decarbonise its operations and hit the goals it has set. Newmont, itself, has set a goal of reducing its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by more than 30% by 2030, with an ultimate goal of being net zero carbon by 2050.

Gosteva, urging actions over the near term, said partnerships with the METS community would be needed to set the companies on the right track to hit their sustainability goals, explaining that it was not only the technology-readiness element that needed to be addressed, but also the required infrastructure to, for example, charge electric vehicles.

“We can no longer afford to be fast followers as an industry,” she said. “There is really not that much time left to reach the 2030 targets.”

She said the investment community was also taking note of the need to decarbonise mine sites, with emissions likely to become a big contributor of company valuation metrics in the future.

Focusing on Newmont’s journey, in particular, she highlighted the $500 million the company committed over five years toward climate change initiatives back in 2020.

In addition to a number of PPA agreements looking to decarbonise the power grid of many of its remote mines, she also highlighted the 2021 signing of a strategic alliance with Caterpillar Inc to deliver a fully connected, automated, zero carbon emitting, end-to-end mining system, as well as a number of “energy efficiency” type of projects related to automation, data analytics and other projects that came under these initiatives.

Many of these projects were being helped by an enhanced investment system and process that incorporates and addresses emissions through an embedded carbon pricing mechanism. Gosteva said adding an emission calculator into these models where every project has an emission aspect in the investment review saw many of these projects develop a solid business case.

One project that has been helped by this is the strategic alliance with Caterpillar that will see the introduction of first-of-a-kind battery-electric haulage technology and automation at the gold miner’s Cripple Creek and Victor (CC&V) and Tanami mines in the USA and Australia, respectively.

Under the agreement, Newmont plans to provide a preliminary investment of $100 million as the companies set initial automation and electrification goals for surface and underground mining infrastructures and haulage fleets at Newmont’s CC&V mine in Colorado, USA, and Tanami mine in Northern Territory, Australia. The goals include:

  • Introduction of an automated haulage fleet of up to 16 vehicles at CC&V planned through 2023, with a transition to haulage fleet electrification and implementation of Caterpillar’s advanced electrification and infrastructure system with delivery of a test fleet in 2026. Actions include validating first-of-a-kind battery-electric haulage technology in the years prior to full production of autonomous electric haulage equipment;
  • Caterpillar will develop its first battery electric zero-emissions underground truck to be deployed at Tanami by 2026. The deployment includes a fleet of up to 10 battery-electric underground haul trucks, supported by Caterpillar’s advanced electrification and infrastructure system. This includes first-of-a-kind battery electric haulage technology for underground mining in 2024, the introduction of battery autonomous technology in 2025, with full deployment in 2026.

Gosteva highlighted that this project – which would also see the companies work on re-using batteries for energy storage when they hit their end of life in mobile mining applications – was very important to the company achieving its goals, but acknowledged that there was no silver bullet to achieving its targets.