Miners embracing new technologies more than ever

Australian Mining caught up with ABB global president – process industries Joachim Braun during his recent visit to Australia to talk about the mining sector’s accelerated use of technology amid an intensifying decarbonisation narrative.

As the renewable energy transition gathers pace, the mining equipment, technology and services (METS) sector has a critical role to play to facilitate decarbonisation in the mining value chain.

And it’s organisations such as ABB that are leading the way, pioneering technology solutions to energise mining’s new frontier.

Australian Mining had the opportunity to sit down with ABB global president – process industries Joachim Braun during his recent visit to Australia.

Braun said that despite the global challenges of 2022, he was optimistic about the mining sector’s outlook.

“When I think specifically about mining, I’m optimistic that some of the almost centennial trends we’re now observing will probably get the upper hand over certain macroeconomic troubles we might be experiencing,” Braun told Australian Mining.

“Commodity prices are super robust and the explanatory pattern behind that is this centennial trend of practically every industry needing to decarbonise – with great urgency –  which will require a lot of minerals and more than ever before.”

Braun highlighted the volume of minerals needed for an electric vehicle (EV) compared with a conventional car.

According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), under its sustainable development scenario (SDS)*, EV battery demand is set to grow by nearly 40 times between 2020 (160 gigawatt hours) and 2040 (6200 gigawatt hours).

Overall mineral demand from EVs under base case assumptions is set to grow 30-fold between 2020 (400,000 tonnes) and 2040 (11.8 million tonnes).

“This is, in my view, driving a very positive development for the mining industry, which is probably going to be pretty resilient against the macroeconomic ups and downs,” Braun said. “I still see a bright future for this industry and for suppliers like ABB.”

 

Leveraging ABB’s 130 years of mining sector experience, the ABB Ability eMine makes the all-electric mine possible, with fully integrated electrification and digital systems from pit to port.

The ABB Ability eMine starts with a strong foundation, supporting mining companies with ABB’s expansive fit-for-purpose product suite.

Beyond technology, Braun spoke about the need for collaboration to build momentum and create a sense of collective action, which is necessary to drive the changes at the global scale.

“No single company or organisation can solve the complex and global challenge of climate change on its own,” Braun said.

“It requires the efforts of everyone, from miners and technology providers to OEMs, governments and industry bodies, to work together to identify and implement the most effective solutions to reduce carbon emissions and mitigate the impacts of climate change.”

ABB formed partnerships with FLSmidth in October and Perenti in November, with decarbonisation a central focus of both agreements.

Braun said ABB and FLSmidth complement each other, as each company comes from a different angle.

“FLSmidth has a fantastic process know-how in several relevant applications for the mining industry, where ABB is coming in with great know-how on automation, electrification and digitalisation,” he said. “And it’s quite clear that these things need to go hand-in-hand.

“There are more examples like this where we have been partnering with OEMs who are manufacturing electrified mine trucks. Truck manufacturers are not familiar with the electrification of vehicles, but ABB is – we’re electrifying everything from passenger cars, public transportation, buses, trains all the way to car ferries.

“But we are not a vehicle manufacturer and in order to ensure safe operation of such vehicles, you need the manufacturer. One can’t do without the other and the sooner we realise that the better.”

Braun said collaboration may not be limited to just two parties, with more insights needed for a cause. This ethos underpins the ABB Ability eMine solution, which interconnects stakeholders all along the mining value chain.

“Often it’s not enough if only two parties partner up because there’s also other mining equipment which needs to be electrified,” he said.

“You need to take a holistic view at this. Without these collaborations, you will end up with solutions which are not appealing to customers, because they are proprietary solutions.”

Braun used the example of a mixed fleet of electric mine trucks, where it is not viable to have a separate charging solution for each truck.

“You want to have one charging solution (for the fleet),” he said. “And none of the truck manufacturers have the interest to come up with a non-proprietary solution, but the end users have a very vested interest in this.

“ABB has the competence to develop and work on such a vendor agnostic solution. This is how we’re being brought together – sometimes by the initiative of the end user and sometimes by our own initiative.”

The mining industry hasn’t always been accepting of new innovations and solutions, rather opting for what’s ‘tried and tested’. But Braun is noticing a shift.

“I see a massive and pervasive uptick in interest in deploying new technologies (in the mining sector),” he said. “I would almost say it’s unprecedented.

“Lots of companies who we’ve initially worked with in a transactional way, we’re now looking into a partnership. Not because they suddenly became altruistic; simply because they need to try new things. And you cannot try new things when dealing with each other in a transactional way.

“There might always be leaders and might always be laggards, but if you look at the industry as a whole, I think it has come an incredibly long way in a very short period of time. I would say that most of this has happened probably during the past two, three years.”

The Charge On Innovation Challenge is another example of the mining industry embracing collaboration. ABB was selected as one of eight finalists in the initiative, with the company recognised for its dual-charging system solution exploring stationary and in-motion charging of haul trucks.

BHP, Rio Tinto and Vale were founding partners of the initiative, which invited vendors and technology innovators to collaborate with the mining industry to develop novel electric-truck-charging solutions.

As a finalist, ABB is collaborating with interested mining companies, OEMs and investors to accelerate the development of its dual-charging solution.

The ongoing energy crisis is squeezing costs worldwide, and energy-intensive mining operations are being affected by soaring electricity prices. But therein lies an opportunity to think outside the box.

“We often observe that certain electrical applications are constantly running at full throttle,” Braun said. “One example of this in the mining industry is ventilation.

“If you have an underground mine, ventilation is vital, because otherwise human beings couldn’t last underground, nor could you operate machinery, because machines use combustion engines and require oxygen.

“But many of these ventilators are running totally uncontrolled and unfettered 24–7. The least you could do is put a drive in so you can at least control how much power you’re giving to the ventilator.

“Even better, one of our solutions is called ventilation on demand (VOD), where you ventilate where required.”

 

An underground mine has underground galleries where the mining takes place; however, not all of these galleries are being used at once. This is where mining companies could gain a cost advantage.

“The standard model is letting your ventilators run at full throttle 24–7, no matter what is happening in the mine,” Braun said.

“So this is maybe one example of how in the past the energy cost might not have been such a concern for the customers, so they wouldn’t bother putting such a solution in place.

“Now that this cost does matter, there’s hope for better adoption for existing technology such as VOD to make it more efficient.”

The mining sector has come a long way in its embrace of sustainable technologies, but companies need to maintain the momentum if they are to achieve their net-zero goals.

Luckily, innovators such as ABB will be there every step of the away, ensuring every miner’s renewable energy journey is as smooth as possible.

*The IEA’s SDS describes an integrated pathway for the global energy sector to meet the Paris Agreement goals, while also achieving universal energy access and substantially reducing air pollution.

Australian Mining.

electric vehicle
renewable