MINING
MINE HOISTS T
SUSTAINABILITY AND
Sustainable energy requires increased quantities of copper and other minerals – but mining and bringing them to the surface must be done sustainably. Julian Champkin talks through the issues with Björn Jonsson of ABB.
he transition from fossil fuels contains paradoxes. As internal combustion engines are phased out, electric
motors replace them, which requires vast quantities of copper. Coal, gas and oil-powered generation give way to wind-power; and at the top of every wind-farm tower is a generator – which essentially consists of copper wire wound round an armature. Again, the transition needs copper. Copper has to be extracted and mined from the earth. Electric vehicles require batteries, and
batteries require lithium and cobalt. Both of them are also extracted from the earth, cobalt generally as a byproduct of copper mining. The move towards sustainable energy, therefore,
requires a great increase in the supply of copper and a great increase in copper mining – and mines are hugely energy-intensive operations, which traditionally emit CO2
in large
quantities. There is an obvious paradox here, or possibly a vicious circle. What, if anything, can be done about it?
Björn Jonsson is global business line manager for hoisting at ABB Process Industries. ABB is a world leading company in mining equipment, including, of course, the hoists that lift those increasingly precious ores and minerals from ever increasing depths underground. Who better, therefore, to ask about the dilemmas of mining and mining sustainably, for a sustainable world?
“The fact is that mining is essential for the sustainability of the world. For the world to become green, we need a lot more minerals, and recycling of the minerals that we already have is not enough,” Jonsson confirms. “It is also a fact that a lot of the mining deposits that we have today are open pit and they are getting depleted. That means that mines go underground, and that mines over time become deeper. So, to accomplish this green transition in society, we need a lot more mining, and we need of course the mines to be as sustainable as possible.” Currently, Jonsson explains, the mining industry emits 4–7% of greenhouse gases globally, so there is still a lot of work left to do
A 75t friction hoist by ABB at the Janesen Potash mine in Canada – the largest capacity hoist in the world. 30 | July 2025 |
www.hoistmagazine.com
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