OZ Minerals, Boliden, and Rio Tinto will work together to develop new and innovative tailings management technologies, allowing the mining industry to reduce risk even further while extracting the materials needed for the energy transition from what was previously regarded as "waste."
The three companies mentioned above will fund and support innovators striving to reinvent mining and processing to eliminate, minimize, reuse, or find value in mine tailings as part of the Think & Act Differently (TAD) incubator programme.
The three organizations will also collaborate on more projects to boost production and achieve benefits like lower emissions and less waste.
Michelle Ash, the Technology Executive at OZ Minerals, said, “We can accelerate technology much faster by working together. This illustrates how the industry can collaborate to support technology development. We hope this way of working and supporting innovators provides a model that can be replicated because accelerated technology development will likely positively impact our industry and society.”
Joanna Lindahl, the Sustainability Director at Boliden Mines, said, “By collaborating on generic challenges for the mining industry in a pre-competitive setting, we will be able to make progress faster and more resource efficient. For the inventors and start-up companies in the TAD incubator, it is also an excellent opportunity to get insights and business understanding from several different mining companies. We look forward to this collaboration and hope to find new opportunities to strengthen the industry in the future.”
Mark Davies, Chief Technical Officer at Rio Tinto, said, “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. We think collaborating on tailings management capability improvement could have a similar, industry-wide impact. We’re excited to partner with Boliden and OZ Minerals through the TAD program.”
The collaboration will assist innovators by providing resources, finance, technical advice, and the potential for field tests at mine operations. The corporations that support innovators will be given a licence to exploit such rights, but innovators will still own their intellectual property.
Around the world, the mining and processing industry has many long-term tailings projects. Tailings are by-products of mining, refining, smelting, and water treatment.
The Think & Act Differently programme, powered by OZ Minerals, aims to create an ecosystem of partners who will investigate and accelerate themes that prioritize social and environmental responsibility in the development of modern mines.
The active participation of a network of people from various industries, organizations, community groups, governments, research organizations, and others who want to play a role in solving complex challenges is critical to its success.
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