Climate change, new technologies the key priorities for miners

Climate change and new technologies are two of the top priorities for the world’s biggest miners for the coming years, speakers at the annual CRU World Copper Conference and CESCO Week confirmed

At the event, which was held online this year, Iván Arriagada, CEO of Chile’s Antofagasta Minerals, said the company has already incorporated efforts to address climate change into its strategy, mainly in terms of the goal of fully powering its operations with renewable energy by next year. 

The company’s Zaldívar copper mine in Chile’s Antofagasta region was its first asset to have a 100% renewable energy supply. 

Likewise, the miner is reformulating its target for greenhouse gas reductions as it had originally planned to achieve 300,000t of CO2 reductions by 2022, but this target was achieved in 2020. 

“We expect that renewables and electromobility will be the main drivers of future copper demand. We won’t be able to reduce CO2 emissions without them and, as both require a lot of copper, the conclusion is clear: we won’t be able to stop climate change without copper mining,” said Chilean mining and energy minister Juan Carlos Jobet at the event.

“Investors are focused on reducing emissions and companies are addressing climate change in their plans,” said Vanessa Davidson, director of copper research and strategy at London-based mining and metals consultancy CRU.

Octavio Araneda, CEO of Chilean state copper miner Codelco, said that innovation will be key to support productivity improvements for miners while reducing their costs. 

The executive said that the company’s automation and technology vice-presidency, created in 2019, is now focused on the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning to improve the performance of its processing plants, as well as raising copper recovery throughout better metallurgical processes and optimizing water use. 

“Our current standard is that all of our operations could be controlled by integrated operations centers,” he said. 

According to Davidson, new technologies will play a major role in companies’ operations in the coming years, but mining companies must develop a roadmap in order to create the innovations they need.

Meanwhile, Ragnar Udd, president of Australia’s BHP Americas, underlined that preparing companies’ workforces is essential to overcome the challenges that new technologies will generate. 

“Our job is to work closely with employees, contractors and suppliers to help them understand how the future will be,” he said. 

Udd added that BHP is focused on developing its employees’ skills, as well as incorporating diverse thinking, supporting them in the digital transformation. 

According to the executive, the potential of Chile’s mining industry to boost the skills of the workforce would help make the country one of the nations that are leading the world’s digital transformation. 

By the end of the current financial year, BHP expects to complete a trial of autonomous haul trucks at the Escondida copper mine in Antofagasta region. 

GOVT OPPOSES MINING ROYALTY BILL

During the event, Chile’s Jobet stated that President Sebastian Piñera's government is opposed to the royalty bill currently being discussed in the lower house of congress. 

Diego Hernández, president of national mining association Sonami, also mentioned the process of drafting a new constitution via a constitutional convention, which the public voted for by a large majority last year.

“As an association, we have the difficult task of trying to convince citizens and those who make decisions regarding the new constitution that the legal and constitutional bases that have allowed us to build what we [the mining industry] have today, shouldn’t be changed, they must remain as they are,” he said. 

Photo credit: Codelco