Speaking at the Energy and Mines Virtual World Congress on November 9, Dean Gehring, Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer at gold mining major Newmont Corporation said diesel-powered mobile equipment represented the company’s biggest decarbonisation challenge.
Calling mobile mining equipment related emission control the “largest area and and probably the most challenging, technologically, to address,” Gehring said the company’s primary strategy in this regard was the use of battery-electric power.
At the conference, Gehring presented ‘Toward Net Zero Mining: The Strategy Behind Our Climate Targets.’
Gehring clarified, however, that Newmont was not ruling out other possible options on haul truck mobility.
“We recognise it will take probably a multitude of different solutions to get there. Our primary focus is on battery-electric. We think that is probably going to be the best option going forward.”
Newmont is targeting a greater than 30% reduction in absolute greenhouse gas emissions and intensity by 2030 on Scope 1 and 2 types.
Separately, Newmont announced Wednesday a strategic alliance with Caterpillar to transform mining through the development of a fully connected, automated, zero carbon emitting, end-to-end mining system.
It would include the delivery of 26 first-of-a-kind battery electric autonomous vehicles in both an underground and open pit operation by 2027.
Source: INTERNATIONAL MINING
Image Source: Newmont Corporation