Future Economy Series:
Mining Webinar Recap

Article

July 16, 2020

Mining innovation leaders from Teck, ABB and EELO Solutions joined our weekly webinar on Tues, July 14, 2020 to discuss the recommendations from The Road to 2050 – Bridging the Gap Between Challenges and Solutions in Mining report that outlines how we can meet near and long-term climate change targets in the mining sector.

It became clear from the discussion that the industry experts agreed with the major recommendations from the report, and that it is clear that BC needs an industry roadmap for mining that has strong timelines and targets to guide industry, and is collaboratively-designed to ensure industry-wide buy-in and adaptation.

Another major area of agreement centred on the importance of partnerships. Partnerships will be key to ensuring infrastructure and new innovations (e.g. electrification, automation and process efficiency) have a return on investment. Engagement with government, investors, SMEs and utilities are crucial to this.

We also heard there is a growing appetite for experimenting with new technologies that add value for customers and reduce costs. This can also be facilitated through partnerships that unlock opportunities for pilot projects and technology adoption to reduce GHG emissions. In particular, BC is in a position to become a hub in knowledge and expertise in surface mine electrification while also taking guidance from international initiatives like the Global Mining Guideline Group.

The CORE Cleantech Cluster team identifies gaps in the innovation ecosystem, enables partnerships and coordinates actions that support industry competitiveness and GHG reduction in BC. A more detailed analysis of the Mining sector and its role in the cleantech innovation ecosystem, including industry engagement strategies based on a unique Helix-5 approach, is available in the report “Accelerating British Columbia’s Clean Economy: A Cleantech Cluster Strategy for the province of British Columbia”.

About the Roadmap Landscape Series

CORE Cleantech Cluster and Foresight are producing a series of roadmap landscapes in the six sectors of CORE’s focus. The intent is to provide a snapshot of the roadmaps that exist in each, and how they are being used.

This will help identify gaps in the required elements, as well as places where roadmaps either don’t exist or are insufficient to achieve the government’s targets.