Miners turn to IoT solutions to tackle ESG challenges

IoT can help mining companies meet challenging ESG targets. Credit: Igor Borisenko/Getty Images. 

In the world of mining, little is more important than ESG monitoring, practice and transparency. Put bluntly, the sector has never been under such pressure to demonstrate, prove and further its performance across the wider impacts of retrieving resources from the planet. 

If any more proof were needed, COP28 has seen the creation of a new Global Climate Finance Centre (GCFC). Its members are big names: ADGM, ADQ, BlackRock, CIFF, GFANZ, HSBC, Masdar, NinetyOne and The World Bank.   

GCFC is tasked with offering practical support for international investment into low and zero carbon solutions, building capacity in regional financial institutions to scale green capital markets activity.  

It will convene private and public stakeholders facing impediments to investment, to develop targeted recommendations and actions to deploy funds, help attract investment and incentivise pipelines of investment opportunities.

Furthermore, new Bloomberg data reveals that despite geopolitical risks and macroeconomics, 85% of investors and companies plan to boost ESG investment over the next five years. Eighty-four per cent of executives say ESG helps deliver a more robust corporate strategy and 85% reported that ESG leads to better returns, resilient portfolios and enhanced fundamental analysis. 

There is yet more. UN Secretary-General António Guterres has proposed a new Panel on Critical Energy Transition Minerals will bring together governments, international organisations, industry, and civil society to develop common and voluntary principles to guide extractive industries in the years ahead, “in the name of justice and sustainability.”  

The issue for Guterres surrounds a worry that lack of global guidance to manage these resources could exacerbate geopolitical risks and environmental and social challenges, including impacts on water, biodiversity, health and Indigenous peoples’ rights. 

“The extraction of critical minerals for the clean energy revolution – from wind farms to solar panels and battery manufacturing – must be done in a sustainable, fair and just way,” the UN chief said, adding that the demand for minerals, such as copper, lithium and cobalt, is set to increase almost fourfold by 2030. 

Together, all these drivers mean that in the real world, mining included, ESG will be the key metric driving corporate investment and practice through 2024. That, in turn, suggests further, pacier development across the fields of IoT and satellite in the coming year.

ESG, fundamentally, is about revelations that stem from the deep granularity of data. Something of a race is now on, given aforementioned drivers, to provide the optimum data functionality to mining companies, through IoT and satellites, to then compile within ESG reporting. 

Last month, in one example, Viasat and Skylo Technologies launched what they call the world’s first global direct-to-device (D2D) network. This combines Skylo’s satellites with Viasat’s tech into a new network to support smartphone services and unlock potential for IoT applications. 

The point here for miners is that the combination of the network with MNO and chipset manufacturer collaboration will provide opportunities for Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) to embed connectivity into smartphones, wearables, vehicles, machinery and other devices potentially on the mining face in remote and tough locations around the world.  

Through these, mining and logistics businesses could gain access to enhanced connectivity experiences, through cellular or satellite, without the need for proprietary satellite hardware, reducing end-user costs and contributing to the optimisation and sustainability of global production and supply chains.  

And optimising such global production and supply means one thing – better ESG performance. Andy Kessler, Vice-President, Enterprise and Land Mobile at Viasat, said: “Our agreement with Skylo marks a pivotal point for global connectivity. The global production and supply chain will now gain access to data from the remotest edge, where it is often most valuable, with the same level of effort as they would in a city connected by cellular 5G.”

A recent announcement by Ivanhoe Mines illustrates why new technologies, like those being presented by Viasat, are likely to become ever more important in the Australian sector. 

Ivanhoe claims a new assessment, conducted by independent consultants Skarn Associates of London, England and WSP Group of Montreal, Canada, confirms that its Kamoa-Kakula facility is now the market-leading major copper producer in terms of GHG emissions.  

In addition, the assessment highlights the significant reduction in combined Scope 1, 2 and 3 GHG emissions intensity following the completion of the direct-to-blister copper smelter expected in Q4 2024.  

Ivanhoe reckons its updated GHG emissions prove that in 2022 Kamoa-Kakula produced among the lowest carbon emissions per unit of copper in the world, and the lowest of any major copper mine. This, it claims, is partially due to the incredibly high-grade orebodies at Kamoa-Kakula with ore milled at an average grade of 5.5% in 2022, roughly ten times higher than the estimated average copper head grade globally of 0.6%. 

This is also a function of the DRC grid being among the world’s cleanest, with 99.5% of grid power generated from hydroelectricity, according to the US Energy Information Administration.

On a Scope 1 and 2 basis (reported from ore to mine gate), Kamoa-Kakula’s GHG emissions intensity in 2022 was 0.16 equivalent tonnes of carbon dioxide per tonne of contained copper produced (CO2-e / t Cu). This, says Ivanhoe, comfortably ranks Kamoa-Kakula almost at the bottom of the Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions curve. 

The relation to IoT tech is simple; no such meaningful metrics can be delivered without sector-leading ESG and remote data. If Australian mining firms seek to compete with or even out-leverage Ivanhoe in terms of grabbing the finance GCFC has to offer, they will be needing the most cutting edge IoT solutions to deliver the best detail on ESG mining performance. 

In related news, the UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has recently confirmed a substantial package of measures to improve the trust and transparency of sustainable investment products and minimise greenwashing.  

It says with an estimated $18.4tn of ESG-orientated assets now being managed globally, the FCA is putting in place new Sustainability Disclosure Requirements and an investment labels regime after detailed engagement with a range of stakeholders, including industry, other regulators and consumer groups. 

This package of measures, including the consumer-focussed labelling regime, will support the UK’s position as a world-leading, competitive centre for asset management and sustainable investment.

Sacha Sadan, Director of Environmental, Social and Governance, FCA, said: “We're putting in place a simple, easy to understand regime so investors can judge whether funds meet their investment needs – this is a crucial step for consumer protection as sustainable investment grows in popularity. 

“By improving trust in the sustainable investment market, the UK will be able to maintain its position at the forefront of sustainable finance and capture the benefits of being a leading international centre of investment.” 

It's yet another signal that in the coming year, ESG for Australian miners is only going to grow in importance, as both the UK and other markets hike up scrutiny on an ESG basis. To answer ever more granular data demands for markets, expect further pace across IoT and satellite tech in 2024.