Decarbonizing Copper and Nickel Mining: The Role of Technology in Achieving Net-Zero Emissions Targets
Read time: ~6min
The global transition to renewable energy sources is underway, with countries and industries around the world committing to net-zero emissions goals by 2050.
Achieving this target will require a significant increase in the production of critical minerals, in particular copper and nickel.
These minerals are vital for the construction of renewable energy infrastructure, such as wind turbines, solar panels, and electric vehicles. For most of the world, this timeframe is “long term”; for the mining world, this is urgent and important, considering new operations average 12-17 years to be created, and that is from known (i.e. has already had work done and probably changed hands a few times) deposits.
However, all types of mining currently contribute to a significant portion of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This poses a serious catch 22 to achieving these important global goals - making it absolutely essential for these industries to achieve net-zero emissions targets for scopes 1, 2, and 3 emissions if we are to create a sustainable future.
The International Financial Corporation (IFC) (full report here) has developed an important Road-map that examines how our industries will reach this goal - highlighting two of the most important ways we will reach this (1) Technology & (2) Collaboration.
Shocking realisation
One of the most shocking realizations to come from this is the need to reduce current Copper GHG emissions by 45%, but at the same time satisfying the demand to double the amount of year on year production of these materials. This essentially means we must reduce GHG emissions from copper production by more than 90% from today’s current production levels. Achieving these reductions will require major changes to how we develop and mine deposits.
Scope 1 emissions
Scope 1 emissions refer to direct emissions from owned or controlled sources, such as on-site fuel combustion or chemical reactions in production processes. In the copper and nickel mining industry, scope 1 emissions are primarily generated from the use of fossil fuels in mining equipment and transportation. IFC’s net-zero roadmap for copper and nickel mining value chains suggests a range of solutions to decarbonize these emissions, including the use of renewable energy sources, such as solar or wind power, to charge or directly power mining equipment and vehicles.
The roadmap also suggests that the use of energy-efficient equipment and processes will significantly reduce scope 1 emissions. For example, replacing traditional crushers and mills with energy-efficient alternatives could reduce energy consumption in ventilation and mineral processing by up to 50 percent. Using electric vehicles and equipment powered by renewable energy sources can reduce mining emissions by up to 80 percent.
Copper production emissions
Scope 2 emissions
Scope 2 emissions refer to indirect emissions from the consumption of purchased electricity, heat, or steam. The mining industry is a significant consumer of energy, with electricity and fossil fuels accounting for up to 30 percent of total operating costs. The net-zero roadmap suggests that the use of renewable energy sources, such as solar or wind power, can help reduce scope 2 emissions by up to 90 percent. Additionally, the use of energy-efficient technologies and processes can significantly reduce energy consumption and, therefore, reduce indirect emissions.
Conversely, the decarbonization of fossil fuel engines (e.g. haul truck conversion to electric) will create a massive rise in electricity required on site. This is effectively a transfer of scope 1 emissions to scope 2, and thus the manner of scope 2 reductions is even more critical.
Scope 2 emissions reduction will likely require a mix of renewable incoming power, energy storage (on and off vehicle), on site high efficiency diesel backups with advanced biofuels, and adoption of substantially more energy efficient processes and equipment, potentially with trade off impacts on effectiveness. It must be remembered that energy efficiency is not and has never been the primary driver of flowsheet or fleet selection.
Scope 3 emissions
Scope 3 emissions refer to all other indirect emissions that occur in the value chain, such as emissions from the production of materials used in mining equipment or emissions from transportation of goods and services. The mining industry has significant scope 3 emissions, which are estimated to be up to four times greater than scope 1 and 2 emissions combined. To achieve net-zero emissions targets, the net-zero roadmap suggests that the mining industry must work collaboratively with suppliers, customers, and other stakeholders to reduce these emissions. Mining alone cannot directly reduce scope 3 emissions sufficiently to achieve the desired targets, but it can use the very significant buying power and long term planning horizons to create the conditions for change.
One potential solution is to use low-carbon materials in mining equipment and infrastructure. For example, using lightweight and durable composite materials in mining vehicles can reduce emissions from transportation. Additionally, the adoption of circular economy principles can reduce scope 3 emissions by reducing waste and improving resource efficiency, while requiring substantial business model changes and economic incentives.
Nickel production emissions
What role does technology play in this?
To achieve net-zero emissions targets, the mining industry must adopt innovative technologies and practices that improve operational efficiency and reduce emissions across all scopes. It is clear our industry needs to not only improve what we are already doing, but to also look 'outside the box' at innovative ways we can make this massive leap ahead in the next 25+ years.
Two complementary technology solutions that are available today and promise to provide the scalability and flexibility required tomorrow are digital twins and AI. Digital twins are virtual replicas of physical assets and processes that can be used to simulate real-world scenarios and optimize operational efficiency. AI can be used to identify patterns that can be used to improve operational efficiency and provide predictions.
The biggest opportunity Digital Twins and AI present to miners, is the ability to improve critical decision making. For example, digital twins can be used to simulate mining operations and optimize the use of equipment and resources, reducing energy consumption and emissions. AI presents amazing opportunities in predictions, and digital twins provide the vehicle for workers to receive contextualised predictions alongside existing rules based expert systems. By placing humans at the centre of our ever changing analytics outputs, we can bring ESG criteria and GHG impacts into everyday decision making, without injecting another dozen or more siloed and unique systems into our already crowded workflows.
“The biggest opportunity Digital Twins and AI present to miners, is the ability to improve critical decision making?
Creating contextualised near real time models of sites can also help provide constant and trending measurement of any GHG reduction projects - we can only reduce what we can measure. For instance, the ability to (1) perform real time root-cause analysis on major GHG sources, then (2) take action to implement solutions that relieve this, then (3) being able to measure the magnitude of these changes over time to determine if/how effective these improvements are. Implementing structured and long term business improvement (BI) initiatives in the ESG space, and measuring the impact of every BI initiative, brings ESG impacts into frontline site management.
Lastly, interoperability across digital twins brings the opportunity to look across the value chain instead of our traditional siloing at organisational or system level. Scope 3 emission reductions require changes across the supply and value chain. To make these changes only via economic incentives or direct integration is to ignore the capabilities we have today and repeat the 20th century playbook. Productising data from concept to servicing of consumed products is very possible and becoming mainstream through product digital twins in the manufacturing and aerospace industries. The same technology that enables evolutions of products and total product lifecycle costs and impacts to be considered at every stage of the supply chain will enable miners to definitively speak to actual scope 3 emissions and to predict scope 3 emissions from early stage exploration and investment.
“By placing humans at the centre of our ever changing analytics outputs, we can bring ESG criteria and GHG impacts into everyday decision making”
The combination of near real time measurement, with long term analytics and learning loops, will enable miners to experiment with innovative technology and ways of working, while maintaining acceptable levels of risk and production. The magnitude of the change required at the site level, and the quantum of new production required, severely challenges the traditional ways of mining innovation. We don’t have 20 years to incrementally try one or two minor improvements in succession, and hope that the breakthrough comes long after our tenure or well outside of our remit. The time for breakthroughs in mining is now, and technology must serve as the primary aid to human decision making as well as the means for creating this change, if we are to innovate without excessive risk.
Conclusion
The transition to renewable energy sources is essential to achieve the net-zero emissions goals by 2050, and copper and nickel are critical minerals that enable this transition. However, the mining of these minerals currently contributes significantly to global greenhouse gas emissions, making it essential for the industry to achieve net-zero emissions targets for scopes 1, 2, and 3 emissions, while increasing the total quantities of metals mined and processed.
The net-zero roadmap for copper and nickel mining value chains suggests a range of solutions to decarbonize emissions, including the use of renewable energy sources, energy-efficient technologies, and circular economy principles. Furthermore, the use of digital twins and AI can help mining companies make better decisions, reduce energy consumption, optimize equipment utilization and experiment and optimize innovative technologies and flowsheets to achieve net-zero emissions targets. Collaboration among stakeholders, across the value chain, is essential to achieving a successful global energy transition.