52 XXXI International Mineral Processing Congress 2024 Proceedings/Washington, DC/Sep 29–Oct 3
for Rio Tinto to appreciate that the critical mineral markets
are very small relative to base metals and the opportunity
was to provide the materials the world needs rather than
for profit margins. This same model is now being pursued
across other critical mineral commodities with a variety of
partners which will enable Rio Tinto and their partners to
more rapidly infuse new critical mineral commodities into
the supply chain. Yet, Rio Tinto also continues to be highly
active in working with technology providers to develop the
next generation of technologies to produce critical miner-
als. To not just catch up to other countries currently leading
the way, but to regain leadership, we need to start solving
the problem today while working on the technologies of
tomorrow and collectively drive game-changes in securing
the domestic supply chain.
SUMMARY
As stated by Bartos (2002), “Technology is viewed to advance
through a series of cycles, starting with the emergence of a
major breakthrough, followed by a period of ferment as alter-
nate designs and improvements rapidly appear, leading to a
dominant design, and then a long plateau period of minor
incremental change.” Until the emergence of current drivers
associated with decarbonization of the energy economy, the
mining industry had not experienced a major breakthrough
since the implementation of SX-EW in the 1960s – 50
years after the original patent! However, it could be argued
that significant innovation may not have been needed. The
demand for mined materials has been relatively constant for
decades. While the industry has continued to do research
and development to support improvements in existing pro-
cesses, there has not been a demand that has required step-
or game-changing improvements within the industry. Does
that mean the industry is not innovative?
Perhaps it is less that the mining industry is not innova-
tive, but rather that in an industry with very narrow mar-
gins and no real drivers for significant innovation (until
now) the need and resources were not there to drive game-
changing innovation. However, the time for innovation is
now upon us and at a level of demand and with challenges
unlike any we have ever faced. Now we need to not only
innovate, but we need to think about what innovation is
needed, in what timeframe, and by who. Is it a technologi-
cal challenge limiting the ability to achieve the goal? Is it a
change to an existing system in place, such as the policies
driving advancement in mining? Is it needing to completely
rethink how we develop a skilled workforce and the skills
we need? The answer is yes! We need to not just view the
challenges in the mining industry and the challenges moti-
vating the need for innovation as technology requiring any
one entity to provide a solution. Also, we need to recog-
nize that it will not be a single solution – different com-
modities will require implementing different technologies
in different ways. We need to view the role that each entity
– academia, trades, technology developers, original equip-
ment manufacturers, refiners, mining and manufacturing
companies, federal partners – have in the holistic challenge
that we are faced with and how we can work differently as
an ecosystem focused on solving the problem rather than
a single entity advancing their individual interests. The
Figure 6. Agile approaches for technology innovation from Apple, Inc. (left) (https://uxstudioteam.com/website/wp-
content/uploads/2019/04/image10.png) and the automotive industry (right) (https://www.360logica.com/blog/wp-content/
uploads/2016/07/AGILE-Graphic01.jpg)
for Rio Tinto to appreciate that the critical mineral markets
are very small relative to base metals and the opportunity
was to provide the materials the world needs rather than
for profit margins. This same model is now being pursued
across other critical mineral commodities with a variety of
partners which will enable Rio Tinto and their partners to
more rapidly infuse new critical mineral commodities into
the supply chain. Yet, Rio Tinto also continues to be highly
active in working with technology providers to develop the
next generation of technologies to produce critical miner-
als. To not just catch up to other countries currently leading
the way, but to regain leadership, we need to start solving
the problem today while working on the technologies of
tomorrow and collectively drive game-changes in securing
the domestic supply chain.
SUMMARY
As stated by Bartos (2002), “Technology is viewed to advance
through a series of cycles, starting with the emergence of a
major breakthrough, followed by a period of ferment as alter-
nate designs and improvements rapidly appear, leading to a
dominant design, and then a long plateau period of minor
incremental change.” Until the emergence of current drivers
associated with decarbonization of the energy economy, the
mining industry had not experienced a major breakthrough
since the implementation of SX-EW in the 1960s – 50
years after the original patent! However, it could be argued
that significant innovation may not have been needed. The
demand for mined materials has been relatively constant for
decades. While the industry has continued to do research
and development to support improvements in existing pro-
cesses, there has not been a demand that has required step-
or game-changing improvements within the industry. Does
that mean the industry is not innovative?
Perhaps it is less that the mining industry is not innova-
tive, but rather that in an industry with very narrow mar-
gins and no real drivers for significant innovation (until
now) the need and resources were not there to drive game-
changing innovation. However, the time for innovation is
now upon us and at a level of demand and with challenges
unlike any we have ever faced. Now we need to not only
innovate, but we need to think about what innovation is
needed, in what timeframe, and by who. Is it a technologi-
cal challenge limiting the ability to achieve the goal? Is it a
change to an existing system in place, such as the policies
driving advancement in mining? Is it needing to completely
rethink how we develop a skilled workforce and the skills
we need? The answer is yes! We need to not just view the
challenges in the mining industry and the challenges moti-
vating the need for innovation as technology requiring any
one entity to provide a solution. Also, we need to recog-
nize that it will not be a single solution – different com-
modities will require implementing different technologies
in different ways. We need to view the role that each entity
– academia, trades, technology developers, original equip-
ment manufacturers, refiners, mining and manufacturing
companies, federal partners – have in the holistic challenge
that we are faced with and how we can work differently as
an ecosystem focused on solving the problem rather than
a single entity advancing their individual interests. The
Figure 6. Agile approaches for technology innovation from Apple, Inc. (left) (https://uxstudioteam.com/website/wp-
content/uploads/2019/04/image10.png) and the automotive industry (right) (https://www.360logica.com/blog/wp-content/
uploads/2016/07/AGILE-Graphic01.jpg)