Abstract
Mining industry produces about 4-7 % of global GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions according to McKinsey. Knowledge and actions in sustainability provides the mining industry social acceptance and helps provide a sustainable future for the next generations. This will enable the industry to do our part in achieving emissions reduction and meet the goal to limit global warming up to well below 2 degrees Celsius.
Mining industry is diesel engine dependent. This dependency is currently driving the behaviors in the industry. For the goals to be met, significant behavior and cultural change needs to take place. New products and ways need to be implemented in a conservative industry.
How to solve this and get rid of the diesel dependency, which is driving the currently too high emission levels?
The answer is transforming the industry to using battery electric mining equipment and turn focus on sustainable and green electricity production. The awareness and decision-making argumentation needs to be available to enable the industry to make this shift. Measurable values on emissions between diesel and battery electric equipment are the first step in target zero mining. The second part of the answer are the new and technically advanced Battery electric products the industry needs to succeed in achieving net zero.
Sandvik has committed to being a front runner in this work and has also made sustainability targets public. These targets are in line with the mining industry turning away from diesel engines and adopting Battery electric vehicles. Sandvik’s long-term ambition for scope 1+2 is to have net-zero emissions by 2040 and for all three scopes, Sandvik commits to reach net-zero by 2050 at the latest. The near-term scope 1+2 target is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 50% by 2030 at the latest and for scope 3, Sandvik will reduce by 30% to 2030.
Together with our customer Newmont, Sandvik have identified a case in which the sustainability related metrics can be calculated and compiled. In cooperation with Newmont’s Borden Lake gold mine, our aim is to publish a white paper of the use-phase lifetime CO2e emissions of Sandvik drill rigs as Borden Lake gold mine. Borden Lake is the first underground mine in Canada to replace diesel rigs with battery-electric vehicles (BEVs).
Also, Sandvik wanted to provide a comparison between diesel and BEV rigs in the use phase to find out the possibilities to reduce CO2e emissions of our customers Scope 1 and Scope 2 and quantify the benefits of BEV drills. Majority of the lifetime emissions are coming from the use phase of the equipment. In addition, we wanted to highlight how much difference the source of the electricity makes to emissions. That’s why we compared results by using the Borden Lake gold mine electricity provider’s emission factor and country specific emission factors around the world.