Sustainability $7.5bn
The amount Rio Tinto will be investing in order to halve its scope one and two carbon emissions by 2030.
Rio Tinto
juniors to make zero-carbon mining work before then. “In mining, no one wants to be first,” says Myerson, who used to run Glencore’s business in North America, “so you need companies like Foran to take on the risk. Then everyone will follow.”
Lead by example
And if others copy Foran, Myerson will feel he’s succeeded. Instead of thinking in terms of IP, the company has a policy of publishing all its findings online. “It’s not that innovative, because we’re really taking technology that exists in other parts of the world,” Myerson explains, linking Foran’s work to Tesla’s in the automobile industry. “Everyone knew the technology was there for electric cars, but Tesla spent the time and money to make them affordable. Now they’ve advanced the technology so much that it’s being applied to mining trucks.” That accounts for Foran’s fleet. For the rest, the company has built up a management team with broad experience and broader networks, and focused on engaging consultants with sustainability expertise from other industries. To build a digital twin of the mine, for instance, Foran identified the best providers working in construction, talked them through mining, and then refined a model with the company best able to meet its needs. Still other technological advances came as complete surprises. The decision to use hemp in McIlvenna Bay’s dry- stack tailings dam can be traced back to a chance conversation Myerson had with a friend who runs a cannabis business. His contention that “cannabis sequesters four times more carbon than the rainforest” was borne out in Foran’s research (a recent Cambridge University study suggests hemp absorbs between 8–15t of CO2
per hectare, whereas
forests typically capture 2–6t), which also revealed that hemp is an effective bioaccumulator of heavy metals and other toxins. “We started reading up, and then we had to find specialists in the agri space for it,” explains Myerson. “After that, we partnered with research firms and processing metallurgy organisations to put it all together. It takes a lot of time, but it’s really just using our network.”
Rather than waiting for pre-packaged solutions for zero-carbon mining, then, Foran is concentrating on finding and porting relevant tools and technologies from other industries. So far, it looks like a very effective strategy for junior miners. Whereas Rio Tinto’s announcement hurt its share price, Foran’s transparency has helped it attract funding. Though he doesn’t normally invest in mining, Prem Watsa – ‘the Canadian Warren Buffett’ – put $100m into Foran because, in Myerson’s words, “he understood the vision and the philosophy”. With Watsa’s money came his address book, which has only further expanded Foran’s all-important network.
28
Of course, Watsa also understood that there was money to be made. Expensive as clean technology might be, Foran is already exploiting new efficiencies that come from using it to boost profitability. For one thing, switching to electric vehicles reduces ventilation requirements – slashing the cost of what has traditionally been the biggest operational expenditure for underground mines. “We make no mistake about it, this is very much a business decision,” explains Myerson. “We want to show that you can make more money by doing the right thing. People mustn’t think that money isn’t important – particularly in the capital markets and in mining, that’s what will help it gather pace.” Currently, it’s easier to make money designing and building a new carbon-neutral mine than it is by converting an emissive one. Equipment designed to run non-stop might not work with intermittent renewable energy sources in off-grid settings. Similarly, as electric trucks are currently heavier and less powerful than their diesel equivalents, pre-existing mines may need to be reengineered with lower slope gradients or trolley assists able to provide extra power. Factoring these concerns in from the start is relatively simple, but they could almost double the cost of existing mines. As a result, Whiteside believes junior miners building zero-carbon and carbon-neutral mines to provide the materials necessary for the energy transition will change the dynamics of the sector over the coming decade. “When you look at [major miners’] portfolios, now and in 2030, they’re still going to be very much iron-ore centric. But, over time, they are going to look for acquisitions which position them better for the energy transition. For them to also hit the goal of reducing their overall emissions intensity, you can very much see those junior miners who managed to bring in zero carbon mines being extremely attractive to the major miners, and really picking up.”
At the same time, the juniors invested in achieving zero-carbon mining as quickly as possible are the ones giving the industry a chance to address its skills shortage. Younger generations are wholeheartedly committed to stopping climate change – but they’re yet to realise just what it will take. More metals means more mines, and those mines need miners. Foran’s openness might mean it misses out on IP, but it’s hoping to unearth value elsewhere. “What the world really needs is a good mining company – to make mining cool,” says Myerson. “Mining doesn’t really attract many bright people, or cool people. They’d much rather go work at Google or Facebook, or something like that. We’re trying to bring those brains to the industry and to our company, and to build up, hopefully, a major carbon-neutral mining company that supplies the critical minerals that the world needs.” ●
World Mining Frontiers /
www.nsenergybusiness.com
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45
