The Elements of Innovation Discovered
The Elements of Innovation Discovered
Metal Tech News - December 7, 2022
Tailings facilities, such as this one at an aluminum mine in Brazil, often contain potentially economic quantities of metals that are critical to new clean energy and digital technologies.
Setting aside professional rivalries for the greater good, OZ Minerals, Boliden, and Rio Tinto have joined forces to nurture new technologies that will reduce the environmental risks posed by mine tailings and extract value from these materials currently considered waste after the targeted metals are extracted.
"It isn't very often that competitors come together to collaborate on industry-critical work. One such area historically has been Health, Safety & Environment, where we learned that sharing leading practices boosts our collective performance," said Rio Tinto Chief Technology Officer Mark Davies. "We think collaborating on tailings management capability improvement could have a similar, industry-wide impact."
Tailings are the waste material produced when mined ore is crushed to a sand-like consistency and various processes are used to extract metals such as copper, gold, silver, nickel, or zinc. The crushed material left after the targeted metals are recovered is stored in a tailings facility which will be sealed, covered, and landscaped after the mining is complete. These containment facilities can also store residues from metals refining and water treatment.
Building and maintaining tailings storage facilities is a costly necessity for mining companies and past failures of these facilities have created environmental catastrophes and a black eye for the mining industry.
In recent years, mining companies have demonstrated that well-engineered, constructed, and maintained tailings facilities are safe and reliable.
Under OZ Minerals' Think & Act Differently incubator initiative, the three global mining companies will fund and support innovators who are working to reimagine mining and processing to eliminate, minimize, and find value in mine tailings.
"We can accelerate technology much faster by working together and this is an example of how the industry can collaborate to support technology development," said OZ Minerals Technical Executive Michelle Ash. "We hope this way of working and supporting innovators provides a model that can be replicated because accelerated technology development is likely to have a positive impact on our industry and society."
It is expected that innovators under this program will work to develop technologies for the extraction of critical minerals from tailings that are increasingly being required for clean energy and digital technologies.
Innovative ideas for reducing the quantity of tailings produced or repurposing these mining waste streams for building materials or other uses will likely also be explored.
To help develop creative tailings solutions, the three mining companies will provide the Think & Act Differently entrepreneurs with materials, funding, technical guidance, and the potential for field trials at mine operations.
Boliden Mines Sustainability Director Joanna Lindahl said the inventors and startups under the initiative will benefit from a unique "opportunity to get insights and business understanding from several different mining companies," which should provide a broader understanding of tailings issues and result in solutions that are widely applicable to the sector.
The entrepreneurial participants of the initiative will retain ownership of their intellectual property rights, and the mining companies involved will be granted license to use those rights.
OZ Minerals, Boliden, and Rio Tinto also plan to collaborate on other innovations aimed at improving mine productivity while delivering benefits such as lower emissions and reduced waste.
"We are very much looking forward for this collaboration and hope to find new opportunities to strengthen the industry in the future," said Lindahl.
With more than 16 years of covering mining, Shane is renowned for his insights and and in-depth analysis of mining, mineral exploration and technology metals.
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