Mining and Complexity: a new look at old concepts

This is the title of a 3rd keynote lecture which will be presented at Sustainable Minerals '20 in Falmouth in June. It will be given by Professor Anna Littleboy, an experienced research director, now at The University of Queensland's Sustainable Minerals Institute.  She specialises in resource sustainability and multidisciplinary integration.

Her program develops systems and processes to share value from resource endowment through new business models, technological and environmental innovation and enhanced social performance from the minerals sector. Anna works towards a minerals sector that uses less energy and water, produces fewer wastes and delivers shared value to communities.

With a background in earth and environmental science, Anna’s focus is on multidisciplinary integration to address the long term risks of disruptive technologies.   She has secured several multi-million dollar funding investments from Government and industry for minerals related research. 

In her keynote, Anna will show that the context in which mining finds itself has never been more dynamic.  Demand continues to grow to address population and poverty reduction.  New commodities and new jurisdictions are coming into play to enable new energy generation and economic development. 

To satisfy these needs expectations on the industry are at an all-time high – to transition away from fossil fuels, to maximise resource utilisation, to minimise wastes, to deliver value to affected communities, to disclose risks, to close and to support human development.   All these issues interact to form a complex system affecting us at local, national and global scales.  And yet, mining tends to be conceptualised as a linear process – through a value chain that progresses from exploration, approvals, construction, operations to closure and relinquishment.  What happens if we start looking at these activities in a non-linear manner?

Anna will present new analyses of global datasets to examine critical variables for the minerals sector as it transitions into the 2020’s.  Recent work has identified that the development of known orebodies is not limited by economics alone.   More than 75% of known copper deposits ($65 billion at 2019 market value) is prevented from development by issues that are not price sensitive such as social concerns, legal or permitting challenges.  This finding alters the risk profile for investors and mining companies and challenges the long held notion that the ability to develop an ore body is purely determined by market economics and the cost-price equation.

The lecture will present examples of how this is affecting the mining process and its contribution in a sustainable circular economy.  Examples of innovative approaches to by-product development, waste reduction and product stewardship will be presented, together with practices that seek to strengthen the relationship between mines and their communities throughout and beyond the mine lifecycle.

Finally, the paper will examine philosophically three issues limiting society’s ability to embrace minerals as a core component of a sustainable future.  Drawing on concepts from the social, geographical and organisational psychology disciplines, it will postulate the need to re-invent the relationship between mining and society – which is not something mining can do on its own.

There is a lot to look forward to in Falmouth in June, not only Sustainable Minerals '20, but also Biomining '20 which precedes it.

The latest updates on both conferences can be found at #SustainableMinerals20 and #Biomining20.