XXXI International Mineral Processing Congress 2024 Proceedings/Washington, DC/Sep 29–Oct 3 15
company having clear connection or purpose to the strat-
egy ownership of the issues by all employees exemplified
by values-led leadership reward alignments to the purpose
exemplifying the point of having a purpose by bringing
example to life and facing challenges and failures with bold-
ness and confidence.
We conclude that of all industrial sectors the mining
industry is in a space where strong adoption of Corporate
Purpose provides a natural positioning for the future and
needs to be turned up much more strongly. The implica-
tions for this will be elaborated on later, but the net effect
is to enhance trust between all stakeholders along the green
innovation chain, be they investors, the community, or
metal/mineral consumers.
SUSTAINABILITY IN COPPER
PRODUCTION
Copper Demand
In the period from 2000 to 2022, 396 Mt of copper
have been mined (The World Copper Fact Book, 2023).
However, reserves have grown by 457 to 890 Mt which
provides some assurance on the concerns about extinction
of copper. However, growing demand places pressure on
the yield from processing especially as the net grades of cop-
per have been declining systematically with time.
For example, at the beginning of the 20th century,
mines in Australia and the US extracted ore containing 2%
to 4% copper. Currently, the global average grade of mined
copper ore is 0.62%, with US and Australian averages at
0.34% and 0.63%, respectively (Rocky Mountain Institute,
2022), with the similar trends in lithium extraction.
Figure 7 shows some identified resources across the globe
and clearly, as noted above (Table 1) global demand for
copper is projected to increase significantly over the next
decade.
According to The International Energy Agency (IEA,
2024), total demand for copper is expected to rise from
24.9 Mt in 2023 (4.1 t CO2e/1.1 t of copper produced,
according to Mansell, 2023) to approximately 31.1 Mt
by 2030. In the IEA’s Net Zero Emissions by 2050 sce-
nario, copper demand is projected to more than double
by 2040, reaching around 36.4 Mt. Furthermore, the sec-
ondary supply of copper, through recycling, is also set to
grow, from 4.1 Mt in 2023 to about 10 Mt by 2040. This
increase highlights the importance of sustainable practices
and circular economy principles in meeting future copper
demands (IEA, 2024).
Opportunities for Decarbonization
Considering all these factors, decarbonization of cop-
per production should be considered a crucial mission, if
the palpable consequences are to be avoided. The energy
intensity of copper production is highly dependent on ore
grades since the significant decrease in ore grade by mid-
century is expected, extracting one kilogram of copper
concentrate from the available resources will likely require
seven times more energy than present-day operations (Rocky
Mountain Institute, 2022). Thus, with low ore grades, the
Source: The World Copper Fact Book, 2023
Figure 7. Identified copper resources across the world
company having clear connection or purpose to the strat-
egy ownership of the issues by all employees exemplified
by values-led leadership reward alignments to the purpose
exemplifying the point of having a purpose by bringing
example to life and facing challenges and failures with bold-
ness and confidence.
We conclude that of all industrial sectors the mining
industry is in a space where strong adoption of Corporate
Purpose provides a natural positioning for the future and
needs to be turned up much more strongly. The implica-
tions for this will be elaborated on later, but the net effect
is to enhance trust between all stakeholders along the green
innovation chain, be they investors, the community, or
metal/mineral consumers.
SUSTAINABILITY IN COPPER
PRODUCTION
Copper Demand
In the period from 2000 to 2022, 396 Mt of copper
have been mined (The World Copper Fact Book, 2023).
However, reserves have grown by 457 to 890 Mt which
provides some assurance on the concerns about extinction
of copper. However, growing demand places pressure on
the yield from processing especially as the net grades of cop-
per have been declining systematically with time.
For example, at the beginning of the 20th century,
mines in Australia and the US extracted ore containing 2%
to 4% copper. Currently, the global average grade of mined
copper ore is 0.62%, with US and Australian averages at
0.34% and 0.63%, respectively (Rocky Mountain Institute,
2022), with the similar trends in lithium extraction.
Figure 7 shows some identified resources across the globe
and clearly, as noted above (Table 1) global demand for
copper is projected to increase significantly over the next
decade.
According to The International Energy Agency (IEA,
2024), total demand for copper is expected to rise from
24.9 Mt in 2023 (4.1 t CO2e/1.1 t of copper produced,
according to Mansell, 2023) to approximately 31.1 Mt
by 2030. In the IEA’s Net Zero Emissions by 2050 sce-
nario, copper demand is projected to more than double
by 2040, reaching around 36.4 Mt. Furthermore, the sec-
ondary supply of copper, through recycling, is also set to
grow, from 4.1 Mt in 2023 to about 10 Mt by 2040. This
increase highlights the importance of sustainable practices
and circular economy principles in meeting future copper
demands (IEA, 2024).
Opportunities for Decarbonization
Considering all these factors, decarbonization of cop-
per production should be considered a crucial mission, if
the palpable consequences are to be avoided. The energy
intensity of copper production is highly dependent on ore
grades since the significant decrease in ore grade by mid-
century is expected, extracting one kilogram of copper
concentrate from the available resources will likely require
seven times more energy than present-day operations (Rocky
Mountain Institute, 2022). Thus, with low ore grades, the
Source: The World Copper Fact Book, 2023
Figure 7. Identified copper resources across the world