Big interview


It goes without saying that keeping abreast of so many metrics would be impossible if Sandvik’s CFO were a homebody. “In between the closings, I travel quite a lot to various parts of the Sandvik Group, meet investors and analysts, support several projects within the group, and work with the executive management team to develop and execute on the Sandvik strategy,” is how the CFO puts it. “There is certainly no lack of interesting things to fill my days with, and it is particularly exciting to do it in a company like Sandvik, that thrives on R&D and innovation.” At the same time, these meetings are far more than mere social calls. Shaping Sandvik’s priorities over the year ahead, they help foster the finance talent of tomorrow, smoothing career paths and facilitating transfers. Felton herself is arguably a beneficiary here: she enjoyed four distinct job titles at Sandvik before finally taking the firm’s top finance job. In a more general sense, it’s clear that collaboration is vital to another Sandvik objective: sustainability. Browse the company’s website and it’s clearly important in theory. The company hopes to have adopted a circular business model for 90% of its operations by 2030, while greenhouse emissions are also in Sandvik’s sights. For her part, Felton is convinced that the finance function is central to these aspiration – particularly with the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), which came into force in January 2023, obliging C-suites to publish figures on everything from anti- corruption efforts to the environmental impact of manufacturing. “Areas such as reporting, consolidating data, internal controls and external audits,” Felton adds, “are all core competencies within the finance organisation, and areas that will be required for the CSRD reporting.”


Data mining Yet if sustainability is patently important to Sandvik, this is ultimately still a corporate venture.


World Mining Frontiers / www.nsenergybusiness.com


And with the International Energy Agency estimating that going green will cost global business an eye-watering $45tn, does Felton see a tension between her employer’s planet-boosting credentials on the one hand – and her own job as a number-cruncher on the other? The short answer is no. On the contrary, she suggests that sustainability offers “a major business opportunity” for Sandvik, not least given the rising popularity of environmental initiatives among miners themselves. Fair enough: so-called green mining is already worth around $11bn, a figure expected to hit $17.6bn by 2027. That’s echoed by specific innovations too. If AutoMine promises to make operations faster and safer – the fewer people venturing underground, the better it is for everyone – other technologies elegantly dovetail sustainability and economics. Consider, for instance, the firm’s new eco-friendly crushing systems. At the moment, the crushing of rocks consumes 40% of all the energy used across global mining. But by adopting a range of Sandvik’s digital tools, for example around understanding load cycles and pressure parameters, operators can quickly make their crushing machines far more efficient, benefiting their account books and the planet at large. To put it differently, the future of Sandvik is clearly being shaped by ones and zeros – something Felton says is mirrored in her own work. “I think it will be more digital and more automated,” she suggests of the finance function at Sandvik. “This will free up valuable time for analysis which will be increasingly important in order for the finance function to provide business decision support in a rapidly changing world.” Given how far her employer has travelled since Felton first arrived at Sandvik, back in 2013, this certainly feels plausible. All the while, the LaRonde mine, and countless places like it, continue to evolve. ●


Above: The TH550B is a fully battery- powered dump truck for underground mining with a 50t capacity.


Above right: R&D is the lifeblood of Sandvik Group, spanning mining operations from Australia to Mali.


40,000


The number of Sandvik employees worldwide, together making sales across 150 countries.


13% Sandvik 15


The percentage of CAGR of the digital mining sector through 2030.


Sandvik


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