Cleaning up with tech: SHIP Copper plans to redefine mining into the next century

Chair Shirley Hayes of the Northern Cape mining and exploration business Copper 360 said that technology and innovation hold the potential to clean up mining’s dirty reputation. The company is gearing up to lead the process through its Team Zero initiative.

Its philosophical mandate: Zero emissions and zero harm.

Said Hayes: “Copper drives the green economy, yet it’s mined traditionally, open cast or underground. That’s an immutable fact, but the way we work with nature to exploit resources must change. There is no doubt about it and neither about the urgency.”

As demand for copper is expected to surge, so too will mining activity. Hayes said that new technology must be developed and embraced concomitant to this growth. She said: “We cannot stand by and two decades from now contemplate the same challenges and bemoan environmental damage, when we can do something about this now.

Hays said that beyond implementing electric mining trucks on mining sites, which is a good start, there are reams of innovations that the company wants to explore. And it’s looking for development partners to join the Team Zero movement.

Smarter mining means greener mining, and presently, Hayes is researching solutions from heavy-duty drone technology to microgrids across plants to reduce energy consumption and digitally interconnect entire process flows in copper production. Hayes is also presently investigating off-the-grid power solutions for high-demand environments like mining and copper production.

Hayes added that even activities like blasting are also able to be contained and emission flow reduced through greater precision.

Hayes also anticipates that markets will demand greener credentials from producers. She said, “Key markets like the European Union are likely to implement some form of regulatory oversight on the origin, environmental impact, and offset initiatives associated with any product sold in the market. This will include mined metals, amongst others. Gearing up to meet this likely future, now, is not only a moral charge on miners but also a likely future commercial benefit.”

This year’s World Mining Congress, scheduled for July in Australia, already lists emission targeting, greener mining, and greater socio-economic touchpoints as key areas for development in mining. That, along with the enabling technology.

Hayes believes the momentum behind the global move to green will accelerate demands on the sector.

Said Hayes: “With the accelerated development of artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities, the scope for cleaning up mining processes is widening rapidly. Not, it’s to harness the technology and implement it sensibly and responsibly that will, over time, reduce the impact of environmental damage that metal and mineral exploitation can do during operations.”