Changing the Game with Sustainable Mining

Summary: Wayne Douglas, Head of Technology for mining equipment manufacturer and services provider, FLSmidth, and Wouter de Groot, Head of Sustainability, tell us how they're helping the mining industry to become more sustainable with new technologies and practices.

 

Key Take-aways:

 

About FLSmidth

FLSmidth doesn't own mines - it 's a technology provider, helping to build and upgrade new mines with new technology - as well as servicing existing equipment. Its equipment - from crushers to mills - is designed to get rocks out of the ground and separate desired minerals.

 

About the mining industry

Civilization has been defined by the different ways we've been able to mine and use minerals and metals. Mining is in everything we do, everything around us. If it's not grown, it usually comes out of the ground! In fact, every American, for example, will need around 1.5 million kgs (3 million pounds) of minerals, metals and fuels in their lifetime.

 

Mining isn't what it used to be

Today, mining is one of the most tech-intensive industries you will find globally. The tunnels often look similar to those we drive through in our cars. And, for example, there are fleets of some of the most modern trucks, with everything being connected via wifi. The processing technology that's actually used is very high-tech.

 

The sustainability challenges of mining

Mining is an intensive industry from an environmental point of view. Big machinery, big operations. Crushing rocks alone uses around 3% of the world's electricity. In the US, 1% of all water is used for mining. Then there are pollution challenges, too. And we constantly need more rock, more crushing, more electricity, more water - to keep up with market demand. Mining requires solutions and it requires them fast.

 

A tale of tailings

Tailings are the waste left behind in large piles after, e.g., copper has been extracted. Most is just deposited, but efforts are being made to reprocess it. Tailings almost always contain other minerals that were not extracted in the first processing run - so finding ways to reprocess tailings also holds sustainability potential.

 

Water challenge

Water can be thought of as the face of climate change. And mining is in the eye of the storm here, using a lot of water. It uses water in the process and then something needs to be done with its discharge. Having access to water is one thing. Making sure that you use it effectively is another. And then the third thing is how miners then dispose of water once it has been treated, or reuse it again in the process. To do all this in a responsible and sustainable way, you need new technologies.

 

A belief in sustainable mining

FLSmidth maintains that mining can be done sustainably with responsible use of water, with limited to no emissions, and ensuring that things are being disposed of in a responsible way. The company presents a technology vision of what is already feasible with the knowledge that we have today and with the tools that we have in mind to guide where mining needs to go - all to make sure that we can continue mining and simultaneously meet the global energy and climate crisis.

 

The MissionZero Mine

FLSmidth's "Mission Zero Mine" is a blueprint and set of offerings that will be ready by 2030 to deliver on a sustainable future for mining. It comprises equipment that will drastically reduce the amount of energy required to take big rocks, turn them into fine powder, float out the valuable mineral, then lower the cost of recovering the water and energy required for the process. The result is forecast to provide a 40 to 50% reduction in total energy consumption, as well as 95% water recovery.

 

From vision to reality

We need to make sure the technology is adopted fast, and that miners are supported in their adoption. Installing such technology requires huge investments by the mining company. Getting there requires baby steps, starting with piloting at a small scale, perhaps where a slipstream can be run side by side to really validate the technology.

 

What about human rights?

Human rights can be a challenge. Mines are not that always that strong on how they treat people. The responsibility falls automatically on the miners and on their suppliers, but also on FLSmidth's assessment of its own suppliers. FLSmidth addresses this with policies, procedures, a cross-organizational human rights work council, and commitment to international human rights standards such as the UN Global Compact.

 

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