The Elements of Innovation Discovered
The Elements of Innovation Discovered
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Megamerger would reshape global energy metals sector. The proposed merger between BHP Group Ltd. and Anglo American plc would create a $200 billion mining behemoth that would control 10% of the global production of copper, a metal that has experienced a 23% price spike since early February on supply concerns. "As part of its strategy to expand its copper assets, BHP intends to acquire Anglo American realizing the significant growth potential for copper in the future, as...
With the world-class deposits already found within its borders, the United States has the potential to be a major global producer of copper, lithium, and the other minerals and metals critical to the clean energy transition. Realizing this potential, however, will require reserves of political will in Washington, DC, that match the nation's domestic energy metals endowment, according to R Street Institute. "Despite political rhetoric and policies promoting the use of domestic...
Silicon Valley-based KoBold Metals is using the latest machine learning technology to expand its search for lithium across four continents that includes projects in the United States, Canada, Australia, South Korea, and Zambia. KoBold's interest in lithium began in Canada, where the high-tech mineral exploration company, backed by funding from Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, and others, detected this critical battery metal near Glencore's Raglan nickel mine in northern Quebec. The...
With no Plan(et) B, Wabtec is pushing ahead with tech to electrify trains and trucks for net-zero emissions mines. From electric trains delivering Western Australia iron ore to the next generation of zero-emissions mining trucks, Wabtec Corp. is committed to providing the decarbonizing electrification solutions that will allow the mining industry to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. "What we are working on today is making sure that all of our solutions are geared towards...
Toward its goal of reducing carbon emissions from its operations by 33% by 2030 and being a completely carbon-neutral mining company by 2050, Teck Resources Ltd. has entered into an agreement with Caterpillar Inc. to develop, pilot, and ultimately deploy 30 zero-emissions large haul trucks to its mines. "Teck is already one of the world's lowest carbon intensity producers of copper, zinc and steelmaking coal, and now we are taking further action to develop and implement the te...
At first glance, it appears that mining giants have been slow on the uptake during the booming market for battery materials. This may demonstrate an unusual lack of forethought, or over the next few years, may actually prove they've been two steps ahead. In less than a decade, the likes of lithium, cobalt, and graphite went from minor materials to a demand so intense that several electric vehicle (EV) and battery manufacturers are jumping the usual supply chain and investing...
Foreseeing the importance of a presence in space, the Minister for Industry and Science, Australian parliament member Ed Husic, along with dignitaries from the Australian Space Agency and NASA, announced the EPE and Lunar Outpost Oceania consortium as one of two successful groups to receive stage-one funding under Australia's Moon to Mars Trailblazer Initiative. The Trailblazer program was launched in late 2021 as part of the Moon to Mars Initiative, which seeks to progress...
Demonstration of Cat 793 Electric mining truck; new mine site of the future to be built at Tucson test site. With executives from some of the world's largest mining companies on hand to witness the historic event, Caterpillar Inc. carried out its first demonstration of a battery electric 793 large mining truck prototype at the heavy equipment company's proving grounds south of Tucson, Arizona. Roughly as tall as a two-story building and capable of carrying nearly 500,000...
Replacing this oft-maligned lithium-ion battery metal comes at a cost Traditionally a headline-grabbing metal due to the perceived human rights and monetary costs it adds to lithium-ion batteries and the electric vehicles they power, cobalt is being overshadowed by the enormous demand and price increases for the lithium and nickel that also go into the storage cells that deliver the "E" to the EV revolution. Cobalt, however, continues to be a vital ingredient that improves...
On the heels of Rio Tinto's order for four battery-electric locomotives to pull trains of iron ore in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, BHP has placed an order for four of its own battery-electric locomotives to be trialed on its Western Australia Iron Ore rail network. Both of these global miners see electrification of mining and transport equipment as an important facet of achieving their steep carbon dioxide emission reduction targets moving forward. "Replacing...
BHP Group has produced the first nickel sulfate crystals at its Nickel West plant in Western Australia, a milestone that is good news for electric vehicle and lithium-ion manufacturers, especially Tesla Inc. Once running at full capacity, this nickel sulfate plant south of Perth is slated to produce 100,000 metric tons of the 99.99% pure nickel sulfate needed for lithium-ion batteries each year. "BHP's nickel sulphate plant is the first of its kind in Australia and will...
Toyota Motor Corp. and Panasonic Corp. are the latest electric vehicle and lithium-ion battery manufacturers to sign an agreement to acquire nickel sulfate from the new production plant at BHP's Nickel West operation in Western Australia. Just last week, BHP announced that it has produced the first nickel sulfate crystals at a new plant slated to yield 100,000 metric tons of the 99.99% pure nickel sulfate needed for lithium-ion batteries each year. Further details on this...
LAS VEGAS – From heavy equipment training simulators to the largest and most powerful electric drive dozer on Earth, Caterpillar's 55,000-square-foot mecca in the Central Hall of MINExpo 2021 in Las Vegas is showcasing how the global equipment manufacturer is helping its customers to mine more efficiently, effectively, safely, and sustainably. "After waiting an extra year, the mining industry is ready to reconnect at MINExpo. We are excited to show our customers and the indust...
Experts from the University of Adelaide are leading a project focused on helping Australia's mining sector transition to more efficient and sustainable battery electric vehicles. "About 30-50% of the total mine site energy usage is related to diesel-powered mining vehicles," said Ali Pourmousavi Kani, a lecturer at University of Adelaide's School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering. "This represents a significant proportion of current mining operational costs, and the...
To lower the carbon footprint of the nickel it delivers to lithium-ion battery and electric vehicle manufacturers such as Tesla Inc., BHP Group is having 38.1 megawatts of solar power capacity installed at its Mt. Keith and Leinster mines, part of the global miner's fully integrated mine-to-market Nickel West operation in Western Australia. This announcement comes just a week after BHP reported that it has cut a deal to supply Tesla with up to 18,000 metric tons of nickel per...
As a part of their commitment to lowering carbon emissions, many global mining companies would like to transform their large haul trucks from diesel to electric. This transition, however, has one big hurdle – the time it takes to charge up these enormous earthmovers takes away from productivity or requires mining operations to buy more of these multi-million dollar electric trucks to do the same work as their diesel counterparts. To find solutions to this dilemma, three of t...
From the enormous equipment that dig up and haul ore to processing facilities that extract the sought-after metals, mines use a lot of energy. Over the past century, the largest share of this energy has come from fossil fuels. In recent years, however, an increasing amount of mine power is coming from renewable sources such as wind and solar. Many mines are in remote locations that are beyond the reach of electrical grids, making them ideal for considering renewable sources...
Taking inspiration from the x-ray and MRI technologies that allow medical doctors to see inside the human body, Canada's Digital Technology Supercluster has launched a project aimed at helping mineral exploration companies identify potential deposits of critical minerals beneath the Earth's surface. A collaboration of more than 1,000 businesses, universities, government organizations, and nonprofits, the Digital Technology Supercluster is focused on accelerating the...
"Please mine more nickel," these four words from Tesla CEO Elon Musk reverberated across the global mining sector and raised awareness of how fundamental nickel is to the lithium-ion batteries powering hundreds of millions of electric vehicles to come off Tesla and traditional automaker assembly lines over the next two decades. "Tesla will give you a giant contract for a long period of time if you mine nickel efficiently and in an environmentally sensitive way," Musk implored...
Global mining company Rio Tinto Group and heavy equipment manufacturer Komatsu Ltd. have partnered to fast-track the development and implementation of zero-emission mining haulage solutions, with Rio offering a mine site for testing and Komatsu allowing first picks from its future lineup of power-agnostic trucks. "Rio Tinto and Komatsu have a shared history of partnership on innovation going back to when we built the world's largest Komatsu autonomous haulage fleet in 2008,"...
Answering Tesla Inc. CEO Elon Musk's call for new supplies of nickel that are mined "efficiently and in an environmentally sensitive way," Anglo-Australian mining giant BHP Group has struck a deal to supply the electric automaker with this fundamental lithium-ion battery ingredient from its Nickel West operation in Western Australia. "We are delighted to sign this agreement with Tesla Inc., and to collaborate with them on ways to make the battery supply chain more sustainable...
