A Zero Emission Copper Mine of the Future – A Strategic Imperative
The International Copper Association Australia (ICAA) commissioned the Warren Centre to develop a strategic Roadmap to achieve a Zero Emission Copper Mine of the Future.
There is a rapidly evolving global trend toward a lower-carbon economy. Copper is well placed to facilitate this process through its real-world applications, but there is also a compelling need in the upstream segment of the copper mining process to achieve a zero-emission future.
Copper mining has remained mostly unchanged for many years, and while breakthrough innovation has occurred — for example adaptation of flotation and smelter techniques or leaching-solvent extraction — significant technological innovation in the industry has been slow to evolve.
A Zero Emission Copper Mine of the Future will be significantly different from the current copper mining system and will require fundamental changes in how energy is consumed, sourced and abated. The Warren Centre believes this is possible with an appropriate delivery framework, coordinated vision, and imagination.
The Report identifies five Emission Impact Themes, including discovery, ventilation, water, processing underground, and materials movement. Within each of these are a series of horizon 1 near-term technology adoptions, progressing to horizon 3 future technology breakthroughs. This includes the adoption of copper mining technologies that are available ‘off-the-shelf’ and which can be proven to provide emission efficiency gains.
Five Enabling Levers are also identified across policy and programs, capital enablers, collaborative frameworks, future knowledge and skills, and innovation to optimise the opportunity for success and mitigate risk in a complex and variable operating environment. A collaborative vision coupled with an underlying framework to activate and enable innovation is essential to achieve impactful decarbonisation scenarios and pathways.
The roles of renewable energy and environmental abatement technologies will not only continue to evolve but play an important role in addressing energy supply at a primary producer level.
A zero emission mine of the future must recognise the difference between incremental versus breakthrough innovation. There are different horizons of impact to enable producers to maintain a balance between economic viability and the challenges presented by the development of lower grade, deeper orebodies in the future with a zero-emission mindset.
A Zero Emission Copper Mine of the Future will only be realised by connecting innovators to producers and establishing a framework that enables trust so as to deliver success.
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