“There’s a common misconception that mining has no role in the energy transition.”
The argument that the mining industry does not contribute to the global energy transition is something that the industry has been fighting to defend.
As governments, industries, and communities race to decarbonise, mining sits at the heart of a complex but unavoidable equation. The industry is being called upon to supply the vast quantities of critical minerals needed to power electrification and renewable energy systems, while simultaneously reducing the environmental footprint of extracting them.
Speaking to Mining.com.au, Dana Cartwright, Director of Environment at the International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM), says the industry is seen to do more harm than good.
“The reality is that mining is essential to delivering the energy transition, supplying copper needed for renewable power grids, lithium for batteries, and steel and aluminium needed for clean-energy infrastructure,” Cartwright tells this news service.
“Achieving global climate goals will require around 3 billion tonnes of critical minerals, with an estimated 300 new mines needed to meet demand.
“The energy transition cannot happen without mining and metals, which is why it is critical that the mining industry works with stakeholders to get this right.”
In recognition of this year’s World Environment Day (5 June), attention turns to the role mining plays in enabling a lower carbon footprint, but also to how the industry itself is evolving in response to mounting environmental expectations.
Driving operational change
Technology is expected to play a critical role in reducing mining’s environmental impact over the coming decade.
Cartwright explains that electrification is forecast to be one of the most important pathways for reducing direct scope-one emissions, specifically from diesel-powered mobile equipment.
“Zero-emission haul trucks are now expected to be available at scale by 2030, 10 years ahead of initial estimates,” she says.
The shift is significant considering diesel-powered equipment generally accounts for 30–50% of emissions at mine sites.
According to the World Economic Forum, around 80% of energy consumption is still fossil fuel based, while electricity’s share of final energy use in the EU has stagnated at roughly 21%. This figure needs to be 60% by 2050 if the bloc is to meet its climate and electrification targets.
Electrification is a term that has come up a lot in recent conversations. It was also the core theme at this year’s Electric Mine Conference held in Lisbon, Portugal, where companies unveiled how they are working to cut emissions and contribute to the energy transition.
Dan Gleeson, Electric Mine director of content, previously told this news service that the conference showcases there is a new breed of technology needed to deploy at operational sites.
Innovation reducing emissions
Across the industry, companies are implementing practical measures to reduce their carbon footprint across sites.
For example, Vale Base Metals is cutting emissions by replacing S500 diesel with S10 premium, as reported.
S500 diesel has a slightly higher sulphur content in comparison to S10 premium, while S10 is classified as a cleaner and less-polluting option. S10 is known for offering better engine performance and more efficient burning, resulting in fuel savings for vehicles using this type of diesel.
Tom Krumins, technical director at Vale Base Metals, says switching to S10 premium would get the company a 7% reduction in its diesel consumption, along with associated greenhouse gas benefits.
“When it comes to carbon, we’re looking at opportunities to reduce, so where can we drive efficiencies and innovation to reduce our energy waste,” Krumins says.
Meanwhile, Turkish mining contractor Cimnak is taking electrification a step further by converting its machinery to electric power.
The company has converted its 160-tonne-capacity rock trucks as they reached the end of their 30-year service life and now operates an expanding fleet of electric excavators, loaders, and haul trucks.
To date, the fleet has logged more than 100,000 operating hours, moved more than 25 million tonnes of material, and displaced more than 6 million litres of diesel, reducing fuel consumption across quarry operations by more than 85%.
The metal behind electrification
The mining industry’s decarbonisation efforts are occurring alongside rapidly growing demand for copper — a metal widely recognised as the backbone of electrification.
Halo Minerals (LSE:HALO) CEO Andrew Dennan says the growing prominence of electric vehicles (EVs), artificial intelligence (AI), and data centres has made copper’s role more visible than ever.
“They understand the end use of copper, and those end uses of copper are all things that they touch and feel and use on a daily basis, whether that’s AI or plugging in their EVs,” Dennan tells Mining.com.au.
According to EY, to meet the world’s electrification goals, around 115% of additional copper needs to be mined over the next 30 years.
Copper is a highly efficient conduit, used in renewable energy systems to generate power from solar, hydro, thermal, and wind energy. Renewable energy sources provide nearly one-quarter of the world’s power, and copper plays a key role in making it as efficient as possible.
Solar power systems can contain 5.5 tonnes of copper per megawatt (MW). According to the Copper Development Association, it is projected that 262 gigawatts (GW) of new solar installation during 2018–2027 in North America alone will require 1.9 billion pounds of copper.
Meanwhile, a 3MW wind turbine can contain up to 4.7 tonnes of copper, with 53% of that demand coming from the cable and wiring, 24% from the turbine and power generation components, 4% from transformers, and 19% from turbine transformers.
Onshore wind farms use 7,766 pounds of copper per megawatt, while offshore wind installation uses 21,068 pounds of copper per megawatt.
Building a circular economy
While new discoveries and mine development remain essential, companies are increasingly looking at ways to recover value from existing resources and reduce the need for additional land disturbances.
For Halo Minerals, that strategy centres on tailings reprocessing at its Playa Verde Project in Chile — which has an initial mineable resources and reserves total of 34.2 million tonnes to produce 60,329 tonnes of refined copper, as previously reported.
Reprocessing of tailings and implementing closed-loop systems are gaining traction, enabling the extraction of resources while minimising waste and emissions.
Dennan says there are several benefits from focusing on tailings, as opposed to primary mining.
“We’re getting involved in projects that have a resource at surface that is easily able to be volumetrically quantified, assayed, and mineralogically understood,” the CEO says.
“The benefits of that are also that they’re already contained within an existing mining licence, also adjacent to road and electricity infrastructure.
“The ESG benefits for that are the fact that we get to reduce the expanding footprint of mining because we’re doing it within a contained site that has already had these types of activities done for them.”
Other ESG benefits include reducing the need for new disturbances to new land or new communities.
“I’m really feeding into trying to enhance the circular economy’s nature of metal production whilst trying to improve resource security and resilience on the supply side as well,” Dennan adds.
Sustainability starts with people
For Serval Resources (AIM:SRVL), sustainability extends beyond environmental and rehabilitation.
Speaking to Mining.com.au, CEO Robin Birchall believes the concept of sustainability begins with people and the long-term development of local skills.
“Sustainability is leaving behind a trail of people who are more capable of doing stuff than when we employed them,” Birchall explains.
Serval actively engages students through internship and practical training opportunities designed to provide hands-on experiences.
Birchall uses an example of a young geology student who initially found her role preparing drill core samples repetitive and uninspiring.
“I walked up to her and asked how are you enjoying working here — and she’s like, well, this is really boring, I want to do exploration and be in the field and drill,” he says.
“So, I go and talk to our senior geologist and then I come back six months later, and I stop at the drill rig and there she is — now she’s in charge of the whole drill crew.”
Serval’s commitment to local capability building also extends internationally. Through partnerships involving the University of Botswana and the Erasmus+ programme, the company hopes to develop resource engineering expertise within the country.
“Once we do that, they can add it to the curriculum, and then they can teach people resource engineering, which means that we don’t have to hire a South African to do it,” Birchall says.
“We can hire a Botswana person, and that is sustainable. That is the reality of sustainability.”
World Environment Day
This year’s theme for World Environment Day focuses on climate change. The United Nations Environment Programme’s global campaign calls on the world to step in, move further, and help steer a world already in motion.
Today, Azerbaijan is hosting the global commemoration of World Environment Day in Baku.
Azerbaijan — host of COP29 — is pursuing green growth and renewable energy at pace. As a Paris Agreement party, the nation has committed to reduce emissions by 40% by 2035 and increase renewable energy to 30% by 2030.
Large-scale projects are underway, including the 230MW Garadagh solar plant and 240MW Khizi-Absheron wind farm, with additional 1GW capacity projects in development.
Despite the progress being made, ICMM’s Cartwright notes that World Environment Day serves as a reminder that there is still significant work to do when it comes to protecting and restoring nature.
“There is still a lot of work to be done in biodiversity protection, land rehabilitation, water stewardship, and ecosystem restoration,” Cartwright says.
“To address this, companies must apply the mitigation hierarchy consistently — prioritising actions that prevent biodiversity loss, through avoidance and minimisation, before considering actions that compensate for biodiversity impacts, such as mine site restoration and offsetting.”
Cartwright uses ICMM member Boliden (STO:BOL) as an example, as the company has dedicated 30% of its non-operational land to the protection and restoration of nature.
However, she notes this requires a whole society approach.
“Greater collaboration with Indigenous peoples, local communities, governments, supply chain partners, and other industries will be critical to delivering long-term restoration outcomes,” Cartwright adds.
“The industry’s focus now needs to shift from strategy alone to testing and scaling. Despite this progress, significant challenges remain.”
Recent research published by ICMM found that the pace of decarbonisation will depend on technological readiness and enabling conditions beyond the mine gate. These include supportive policy frameworks, permitting processes, infrastructure investment, access to finance, supplier readiness, workforce skills, and coordinated planning.
As the world accelerates towards a lower carbon future, mining’s role has never been more important — or more scrutinised. The industry’s challenge is not only to supply the minerals needed for the energy transition, but to show that those materials can be produced in a way that supports climate goals and environmental responsibility — in more ways than one.
Write to Aaliyah Rogan at Mining.com.au
Images: Mining.com.au, World Earth Day, Electric Mine, Cimnak, Halo Minerals, iStock & Serval Resources
