Filings buzz: 45% increase in industrial automation mentions in mining since Q4 of 2020 

Mentions of industrial automation within the filings of companies in the mining industry were 45% higher in the fourth quarter of 2021 than in Q4 of 2020. 

In total, the frequency of sentences related to industrial automation during 2021 was 49% higher than in 2016 when GlobalData, from which our data for this article is taken, first began to track the key issues referred to in company filings. 

When companies in the mining industry publish annual and quarterly reports, ESG reports and other filings, GlobalData analyses the text and identifies individual sentences that relate to disruptive forces facing companies in the coming years. Industrial automation is one of these topics; companies that excel and invest in these areas are thought to be better prepared for the future business landscape and better equipped to survive unforeseen challenges. 

To assess whether industrial automation is featuring more in the summaries and strategies of companies in the mining industry, two measures were calculated. 

Firstly, we looked at the percentage of companies that have mentioned industrial automation at least once in filings during the past 12 months; this was 73% compared to 51% in 2016. Secondly, we calculated the percentage of total analysed sentences that referred to industrial automation. 

GlobalData identified 46 industrial automation-related sentences in Honeywall’s company's filings, 0.6% of all sentences and the most of any company profiled. 

ThyssenKrupp mentioned industrial automation the second-most; the issue was referred to in 0.4% of sentences in the company's filings. Other top employers with high industrial automation mentions included Caterpillar, Sibanye-Stillwater and ArcelorMittal. 

Across all companies in the mining industry, the filing published in the fourth quarter of 2021 that exhibited the greatest focus on industrial automation came from Newcrest. Of the document's 2,579 sentences, 15 (0.6%) referred to industrial automation. 

This analysis provides an approximate indication of which companies are focusing on industrial automation and how important the issue is considered within the mining industry, but it also has limitations and should be interpreted carefully. 

For example, a company mentioning industrial automation more regularly is not necessarily proof that they are utilising new techniques or prioritising the issue, nor does it indicate whether the company's ventures into industrial automation have been successes or failures. 

In the last quarter, companies in the mining industry based in Eastern Europe were most likely to mention industrial automation with 0.24% of sentences in company filings referring to the issue. In contrast, companies with their headquarters in Africa mentioned industrial automation in just 0.05% of sentences.