UK (Commonwealth) _ As we progress towards 2025, the mining sector faces significant challenges and exciting opportunities. Management of facilities has an opportunity to take advantage of new technology that can improve worker safety and operational efficiency as they deal with aged infrastructure, a declining skilled workforce, and urgent safety issues.
The 12th Eurasian Conference on Mining and Mineral Exploration, which took place in London on December 2, 2024, released these sentiments at Simmons & Simmons.
Founded in 2012, the MINEX Eurasia Conference is the only annual mining and investment event in the UK that focuses on Eurasia’s mining trends and business possibilities. Participants from the UK and beyond attend the conference, which serves mining and metals firms, investors, financiers, government regulators, and service suppliers.
In order to address the changes, difficulties, and prospects in the mining sector throughout Central Asia, Mongolia, and mining hotspots in the Caspian and Caucasus area, this event will leverage the experience of industry experts, top officials, and corporations. These conversations can help businesses overcome the obstacles and lessen their impact.
According to the UN Global Resources Outlook 2024, infrastructural expansion and high consumption have caused our usage of Earth’s resources to quadruple over the past 50 years. By 2060, this tendency is predicted to increase by 60%, so finding sustainable ways to fulfill future energy demands and accomplish international objectives.
Rich in minerals needed for sustainable energy technology, Eurasian nations are taking the initiative to tackle these issues. By shifting their focus from conventional markets to Europe, North America, South Asia, and the Middle East, they are diversifying their trade and investment. This change is being driven by their changing non-alignment strategy in response to escalating international conflicts.
Eurasian countries are aggressively attempting to modernize their industries, develop green energy sources, and replenish mineral supplies by collaborating with both domestic and foreign businesses. In order to prosper in this dynamic environment, businesses working in Eurasia need to stay up to date on the region’s continuing economic, geopolitical, and climatic changes and modify their strategy accordingly.
The goals of the Minex Eurasia Conference are to boost the mining business, identify trends in the industry, and conduct analysis. It also aims to promote wider recognition of the mining and exploration for minerals industries as essential pillars of the stability of the European and global economies, and to steer towards a sustainable, ecologically conscious future.
One of the main objectives of the conference is to present and analyze trends and advances in the mining industry throughout the nations of Eurasia.
Mining, which mostly depends on natural resources like coal, metal ores, and minerals, is essential to infrastructural development and worldwide prosperity. The National Mining Association claims that the sector supports more than 1.3 million jobs and adds US$194.4 billion to the GDP.
Maintaining this economic engine requires modernizing processes with new machinery and automated solutions, such as radio remote controls, slip ring assemblies, and motor-driven cable reels.
Before implementing modernization, mining operations managers must thoroughly evaluate their demands as the industry looks to the future.
Many energy transition technologies, such as batteries for electric vehicles, are based on minerals. In addition to its increasing significance, the mining industry’s performance in addressing social and environmental issues has a significant impact on our future as a society.
Similar to many other industries, mining companies use voluntary standards and certification programs to indicate to downstream consumers, such as automakers, a particular degree of social and environmental performance. These users use the information to help them make ethical sourcing choices and lower emissions from their supply chains.
Four industry-led programs recently introduced the Consolidated Mining Standard Initiative (CMSI), which aims to establish a “global” mining standard. The CMSI made the first draft of the standard available for public review on October 16, 2024.
After examining the proposed draft standard, governance architecture, and assurance process, Public Citizen and 13 international organizations representing organized labor, civil society, and Indigenous Peoples found a number of flaws and dangers for communities, workers, Indigenous Peoples, and automakers.
In addition to failing to create the assurance and governance mechanisms required to stop detrimental industry practices from continuing unchecked, the proposed standard sets a low threshold for businesses’ social and environmental performance.
The research provides recommendations for downstream buyers and automakers. The research urges downstream buyers and automakers to clearly communicate to the mining sector that using ambiguous criteria that fall short of worldwide minimum standards, along with opaque guarantees and a dysfunctional governance framework, is unacceptable for monitoring environmental and human rights violations.
