Mines, machines, morals

Keynote speech (as written) at CIM Annual Conference.
Rohitesh Dhawan, President and CEO, ICMM

Here goes:

1. I’m not yet 40 years old.
2. I am vegan.
3. I hold a Guinness World Record.

OK that’s round 1. Before I tell you the answer, let’s play Round 2. Here are 3 statements about the mining industry, two of which are true, and one isn’t. 

1. There are no women in the 24-member CEO Council of ICMM.
2. Mining is responsible for 4 – 7% of global greenhouse gas emissions.
3. The mining industry is a leader in the responsible use of cutting edge technology.

Who thinks #1 is true? You are unfortunately, correct. Despite huge strides in gender representation across the industry, the CEOs of the 24 members of ICMM are, like me, male. It is something the Council is very mindful of, and we hope will change in the near future. 

Who thinks #2 is true? It is likely false, or misleading at best. It’s widely quoted and doesn’t have a clear verifiable source. We’ve started work to get a better handle, and current best estimates are closer to the 1% mark.

That means #3 is true – well, I’m cheating here since that’s not a verifiable fact, and simply my opinion. Today, I want to make the case that while many people wouldn’t think of mining as a leader in either ethics or technology – let alone the ethics of technology – the actions of leading mining companies are exemplary. 

The mining industry is combining ethics and technology – or machines and morals  – to make our operations becoming safer, lower impact, and more socially conscious.  

This in turn, should fill us with confidence, hope and a sense of deep purpose for our role in leading positive change in a geopolitically fractured, technology disrupted, climate stressed world.  

I want to use three examples from ICMM member companies of why I believe this to be true in the hope that they inspire us over the next few days.

The first example comes from Chile, and the Los Bronces mine operated by Anglo American. It contains 2% of known global copper resources and is one of the world’s most important mines for this critical metal. 

The mine was first established in 1867. Yet, despite its age, it is one of the world’s most technologically advanced operations. A third of the fleet is already autonomous, with more to come. It already recycles 92% of water used and will soon stop using freshwater altogether. 

It is a pioneer in the use of an Integrated Remote Operating Centre. Most day-to-day decisions in the mine are now made by a 20-person team on the 35th floor of a building in downtown Santiago and executed by machines remotely or autonomously. This has shown demonstrable improvements in efficiency and safety, with strong evidence of positive sustainability outcomes too, like reduced water consumption and improved biodiversity outcomes. 

OK, so I hope we can agree that this is an example of technology leadership. Where does the ethical leadership factor in? Well, in 2 special respects.

First, all else being equal, automation typically results in fewer workers. Instead of seeing that as a cost of doing business, Anglo committed to not make a single person involuntarily redundant as a result of that change – and stuck to that promise, by investing significantly in retraining people and reallocating them to roles. Of course, the company has restructured for other reasons, but technology displacing jobs was not one of them.

Second, when faced with the choice of increasing capacity at this centre to serve another mine, El Soldado, it opted instead to create a whole new centre in the immediate vicinity of that mine – at greater cost, to create local jobs and stimulate the regional economy. 

Both these steps are, in my opinion, inspiring examples of technology leadership combined with ethical leadership – exactly what the world is crying out for.

The second example of the same comes from Brazil, and the Carajas mine operated by Vale. Believed to be the single largest human-made hole in the ground and visible from the moon, Carajas is one of the world’s iconic iron ore mines.

Besides being large, its location is also unique. It sits in the centre of 800,000 hectares of pristine Amazon rainforest in the state of Para. If the thought of mining in one of the world’s most sensitive and important ecosystems makes you wince as it did me, consider this.

Those 800,000 hectares of forest are standing not despite, but because of the mine. If the mine wasn’t there, the trees, people and animals would be gone too – just like everything around it has, due to cattle farming and logging.  

This is because the mine impacts just 3% of the available area and protects the remaining 97% in partnership with local indigenous communities. This means operating fire services, anti-poaching teams, wildlife rescue centres and a set of other services that mining companies typically wouldn’t provide. I’m sure you’ll agree that this is ethical leadership, so where then does technology factor in?

Well, as part of its commitment to protect the natural environment, the mine and its future extensions are designed to be truckless. It is an extraordinary thing to fly over the biggest anthropogenic crater in the world and not see large vehicles that would have otherwise caused dust, noise and greenhouse gas emissions.

Instead, the mine runs on a conveyer and train system – which, of course has some operational benefits – but adds significant complexity to the operation. Finding this technology solution while never losing sight of its responsibility to nature and communities is what makes Carajas, I believe, an extraordinary example of ethical technology-enabled leadership.

The third case I want to talk about comes from the North of Sweden. The Garpenberg mine operated by Boliden is one of the world’s most productive operations, producing lead, zinc and silver. 

They mine very low grades, with some of the highest energy and labour costs in the world – and are still profitable. How? Though technology leadership. It is one of the world’s most automated mines, with significant deployment of remote and autonomous technology through every stage of the operation.

It is also one of the world’s safest. In fact, Boliden has achieved something that no other mining company has – 17 years without a fatality. Now you might be thinking what I first did; if there’s fewer people underground, that means less risk, therefore safer.

While that’s true, there are other mines with comparable automation penetration but without the same safety record. In fact, Boliden’s safety record can be attributed above all to their culture; a culture of care. Their leadership teams over the years have made it a priority to create the right kind of culture, which promotes the kind of behaviours that keep people safe. 

That’s the true aspect of leadership – going beyond the operating procedures to build an enduring culture of safety. Combined with world-leading applications of AI and other technologies, Boliden today is one of the safest, most effective operators in the world. 

In conclusion, I hope the three examples of Los Bronces, Carajas and Garpenberg stay with us this week as we explore ways to advance the cause of responsible mining through technology. They show us that as a sector, we have every reason to be proud and confident of our ability to mine with Principles and to lead with Purpose.

Oh, I suppose before I end, I should probably tell you which of my three statements was a lie. As for #1, shame on all of you that thought it was a lie – despite my grey and thinning hair, I’m not yet 40 years old.

As for #2, well that’s of course true because of that age old truth – how do you know someone is vegan? They’ll tell you.

Which means #3 is a lie. I’m not a Guinness World Record holder. But there’s a reason I mentioned that. I am in fact going to try – as part of a team – to break a joint Guinness World Record later this year. It’s connected to mining, will take place at Garpenberg, and I’m going to need each of your help to make it happen. I can’t quite tell you yet what it is, but it’ll be announced on LinkedIn within the next month – so watch out for that, and please get involved when it launches.

Until then, I hope the next few days will help us push the boundaries of responsible mining enabled by the responsible use of cutting edge technology.   

Thank you.