Backed into a corner: Mining’s role in green energy creates an efficiency paradox

The demand for green energy, which requires critical minerals because they are essential for manufacturing low-carbon technologies, is forcing the mining sector into a corner where it must scale up production while aiming for zero emissions and zero waste.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) reported that demand for lithium rose nearly 30% in 2024, far outstripping the growth rates of the previous decade. However, as the world demands more copper, nickel and lithium for the energy transition, the mining industry is running into a wall: it is digging deeper for lower-grade ore, a process that traditionally requires more diesel and more carbon.

Decoupling production growth from its rising carbon footprint has led the industry to prioritise alternative energy solutions like electric and autonomous mining, which offers a massive leap in efficiency.

Charl Marais, a manager at ABB South Africa, said: “Most mines run on diesel engines – large lorries and trucks, drilling machines, etc. You might get 40% efficiency. With an electrical system you get an efficiency of 96%, 97%.”

The operational savings of electric systems are undeniable, but the massive capital expenditure (capex) investment remains a barrier. Speaking at a panel discussion at the Mining Indaba in Cape Town, Christophe Fleurence, a vice-president at TotalEnergies Renewables, noted that although a renewable plant has “hardly” any operational expenditure (opex) during its lifetime, the entry price is steep.

“To unlock this low electricity cost, low opex for the mine, you have to understand that it starts with a high capex. A renewable plant is just capex at the beginning,” Fleurence said.

Giants like Gold Fields or Ivanhoe Mines can afford to look decades into the future, but junior miners are often left behind. Marais said trade-off studies are essential to prove the financial benefit. They usually show a payback ­period of two to five years.

Ian Gebbie, a senior vice-president at DRA Global, noted that the drive for renewables is coming from the operational team on the ground because they see the benefits to operational costs.

However, for any green initiative to survive, it has to support, not hinder, the primary goal of “getting those tonnes out of the ground”. He recounted an example where a mining team abandoned electric vehicles and returned to diesel simply because they lacked the proper workshops and cranes to change batteries under production pressure.

The African advantage

Far from trailing global trends, African mining operations are increasingly positioning themselves as early adopters of advanced extraction and energy technologies. Nuhu Salifu, a vice-president and managing director at Sandvik West Africa, emphasised that the continent is actively deploying the latest automation equipment across its major mineral belts.

“That technology is available and [has been used] for some time now,” Salifu said. He noted that its successful deployment relies on partnerships to upskill local teams, citing specific successes ranging “from the Ashanti Belt in Ghana to the Loulo Belt in Mali”, as well as at the Kibali mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), one of the largest and most automated gold mines in Africa.

This forward-looking approach is often dictated by the quality and longevity of the assets themselves. Marais noted that because the continent hosts resources with long-lasting asset lifespans, operators are compelled to be “very futuristic” in their design. He pointed to the multimetal Platreef project in Mokopane, Limpopo, developed by Ivanhoe Mines, as a clear example of this “mine of the future” mindset.

Innovation extends beyond fleets to critical infrastructure. African mines are pioneering complex energy integration out of necessity. Gebbie highlighted operations in the DRC that are combining hydro, solar and batteries to displace diesel entirely.

Similarly, in South Africa, major producers like Exxaro are becoming energy producers. The company established Cennergi to own and operate renewable energy assets, securing a decarbonised power supply for its own operations.

The real bottleneck is often the state. Fleurence pointed out that although solar and batteries can displace diesel on-site, using renewables more widely requires connecting to external grids or hydropower. “Which means that you are going to have to deal with utilities and with regulation. And all of a sudden, everything takes two years to work,” he said.

Circularity and the human element

Zero emission focuses on the power grid, but zero waste focuses on the hardware itself. Amauray Vadon, a managing director at Michelin, detailed a logistics partnership where the company retrieves used tyres when delivering new ones to mine sites.

Instead of being discarded in landfills, these huge tyres are sent to a specialist facility for pyrolysis – a thermochemical breakdown process that reverses the curing of the rubber. Vadon explained that through this process, original raw ingredients can be recovered and recycled into new products.

According to the IEA, recycled minerals such as nickel and lithium produce about 80% fewer emissions than primary mining.

However, all the technology and recycling in the world won’t matter if the workforce isn’t on board. ­Salifu noted that data used to monitor efficiency can often be seen as punitive by operators, leading to resistance. Vadon echoed this: “If you don’t have the people around articulating the benefits of the tool, the tool will only remain a tool.”

“I think guys need to be able to see working systems,” Marais confirmed. “Our industry works like that.”

The zero waste and zero emission mine is technically possible, but it demands massive upfront investment, redesigned infrastructure and a workforce willing to adapt. DM

This story first appeared in our weekly DM168 newspaper, available countrywide for R35.