Tag Archives: Sustainable mining

ICMM welcomes AusIMM as 40th association member

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The International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM) has welcomed the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (AusIMM) as a new association member.

Founded in 1893 and celebrating its 130th anniversary this year, AusIMM is a member-based, professional association leading the way for people working in the resources sector.

Representing 15,000 members in 100 countries, AusIMM showcases leadership, upholds industry standards, creates communities, and shapes careers through world-class professional development including online courses, technical conferences and thought leadership events, AusIMM says.

Rohitesh Dhawan, CEO and President, ICMM, speaking at the World Mining Congress, said: “We are delighted to welcome AusIMM as our newest association member. We’ve a very positive history of working collaboratively with AusIMM to promote leading practice on environment, social and governance issues in our industry. I’m looking forward to building on this partnership even further as we co-develop the tools needed to help industry professionals continue to responsibly produce the critical minerals and metals required across the globe.

“This cements an already strong and collaborative relationship between our organisations. This will enable us to share insights and drive leading practice to make our industry safer and more sustainable.”

Stephen Durkin, CEO, AusIMM, also speaking at the World Mining Congress, said: “Both the ICMM and AusIMM are committed to responsible resource development. The AusIMM’s expertise in sustainable mining practice and professional education courses such as in ESG & Social Responsibility will be enhanced by working more closely with ICMM. For example, our upcoming new Professional Certificate on Integrated Mine Closure will be based on ICMM’s Good Practice Guide.”

AusIMM has become ICMM’s 40th association member, joining 25 company members, which represent one third of the global metals and mining, and 39 associations that represent different commodities, national jurisdictions and professional groups.

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.

Perenti’s idoba collaborating with Sumitomo on sustainable mining solutions

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idoba, Perenti’s technology driven products and services business, says it has been collaborating with Sumitomo Corporation under a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the co-creation and joint development of digital mining products for the advancement of sustainable mining practices.

Sumitomo is a major investment and trading group, consisting of over 900 companies in 112 countries. It will, Perenti says, leverage its global mining industry network to bring a unique user perspective that will complement Perenti and idoba’s mining services and technology expertise.

Under the terms of the MoU, Sumitomo and idoba will collaborate and jointly develop digital mining services, including mining process optimisation and carbon footprint management. Included within this is:

  • Mining process optimisation – by connecting and analysing mine performance data to predict future performance and provide decision support; and
  • Carbon footprint management – to generate predictive decision guidance that will help mine owners on their pathway to net zero carbon equivalent emissions, while optimising cashflow and performance against global emission standards.

Mark Norwell, Managing Director and CEO of Perenti, said: “Our agreement with Sumitomo is a vote of confidence in idoba’s industry-leading capability. The combination of Sumitomo, idoba and our contract mining expertise will support our business evolving to meet the needs of the ever-changing mining industry and global expectations.

“In idoba we are building an innovation-based business with a focus on helping clients achieve operational excellence and world’s-best environmental performance through product and service development.”

Sarah Coleman, Chief Executive Officer of idoba, added: “The mining industry recognises the value that advanced digital technologies bring to operational performance, asset efficiency and sustainable business.

“The MoU with Sumitomo will help us expand our suite of technology driven products and services to meet the mining industry’s demand for technology and sustainability to be integrated with mining domain expertise, and a human-centred approach.”

Last year, Perenti launched idoba, calling it a “new capital light technology-driven service offering” available to the mining and resources industry aimed at providing digital product and technology services to the sectors. This followed Pereti’s July 2020 acquisition of Sandpit Innovation and Improvement Resources (a consultancy) and, in April 2021, the buy of Optika Solutions (a software product and solutions development company).

Minerals Council of Australia members to adopt Canada’s TSM sustainability system

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Australia’s minerals industry is to introduce the Mining Association of Canada’s Towards Sustainable Mining (TSM) system to, the Minerals Council of Australia says, further improve site-level performance through regular and transparent reporting on safety, environmental and social indicators, including partnerships with First Nations landholders and communities.

Adopting TSM – implemented worldwide among key mining nations – will support companies in demonstrating site-level safety, sustainability and environmental, social and governance performance through better measurement and accountability, the MCA said. TSM will also show how operations engage with Traditional Owners while supporting social and economic aspirations and heritage protection.

MCA CEO, Tania Constable, said the phased introduction of TSM as an expectation of MCA membership will give industry stakeholders, including First Nations partners, local communities and groups, investors and customers, additional assurance and visibility on the sector’s site-level sustainability performance across a range of important practical measures.

TSM builds on existing commitments to Enduring Value – the Australian minerals industry’s corporate-level sustainable development framework – by providing a consistent and independently verified approach to assess and communicate site level performance, supporting trust and enhancing confidence in the industry’s sustainability credentials, the MCA said.

Constable added: “Australian mining is a global leader in sustainability performance, and it’s time to take another step forward to enhance community, investor and customer trust and confidence in the industry.”

Mining Association of Canada CEO, Pierre Gratton, said: “TSM has led to better outcomes for mining communities in Canada and around the world, and it’s great that Australia has chosen TSM as the vehicle to demonstrate environmental and social performance in its mining sector. We are very proud of TSM’s increasingly global reach and power to improve sustainability through measuring site-level performance.”

The system includes guiding principles and standardised protocols to be adapted for Australian implementation, including:

  • Communities and people: Indigenous and community relationships, safety and health, crisis management and communication planning, preventing child and forced labour;
  • Environmental stewardship: biodiversity conservation management, tailings management, water stewardship; and
  • Climate change: site-level targets and management.

The program was established in 2004 by the Mining Association of Canada to enable mining companies to demonstrate how they are meeting society’s needs for minerals, metals and energy products in the most socially, economically and environmentally responsible way, with its core strengths including:

  • Accountability: participation in TSM will be an expectation for all Mining Association of Canada members for their Australian operations, with assessments conducted at the facility level where the mining activity takes place;
  • Transparency: members will publicly report their performance in line with standardised protocols and indicators; and
  • Credibility: TSM includes ongoing consultation with a national Community of Interest Advisory Panel, an independent multi-stakeholder group, to oversee and shape the program for continual advancement.

Newcrest looks to University of Queensland to help achieve sustainable mining goals

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The University of Queensland (UQ) and leading gold miner Newcrest Mining have agreed a new initiative providing funding for eight new PhD research projects at the institution.

The aim is to develop interconnected and systems-based solutions to transform the sustainability performance of mining operations, UQ said.

The opportunities will be targeted at high-calibre graduates from a range of disciplines including mining, chemical and civil engineering, as well as business and social science areas.

UQ Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research Partnerships, Professor Mohan Krishnamoorthy (pictured on the left), said: “The alliance with Newcrest represents a strategic opportunity to co-develop the cutting-edge innovation necessary for a sustainable mining future.”

Newcrest Mining Head of Technology and Innovation, and UQ alumnus, Andrew Logan, said research into complex mining challenges was essential to sustainably produce the minerals needed for modern living.

“Newcrest relies on innovation to unlock complex orebodies and academic research, with practical outcomes, provides industry with the necessary understanding for sustainable and safe mineral development,” he said.

The students will be supported for four years by both organisations and work on inter-related projects focused on specifically identified mining challenges.

UQ staff from the Sustainable Minerals Institute and other faculties will work with Newcrest to support the group through additional development activities. As part of the funding arrangements Newcrest will offer competitive top-up scholarships and provide opportunities for on-the-ground experience in Newcrest operations and corporate offices.

This funding announcement is part of a five-year partnership agreement signed between UQ and Newcrest Mining in August.