Barrick Joins Challenge to Decarbonize Surface Mining

Global miner Barrick Gold Corporation has joined an industry-wide effort to cut emissions from surface mining, called Charge on Innovation Challenge.

The challenge takes the form of a global competition and seeks to leverage the experience of various industries to develop new concepts and solutions for large-scale haul truck electrification.

Barrick considers electrification as a key measure to decarbonise mining.

The company has copper and gold operations across Saudi Arabia, Zambia and Chile, as well as Argentina, the Dominican Republic, Papua New Guinea, Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mali, Côte d’Ivoire, Canada and Nevada.

The crux of the challenge is to develop a solution that will safely deliver electricity to large surface haul trucks without adding time to the haul cycle.

So far, more than 350 companies from across 19 industries have registered their interest as vendors, with 80 companies submitting formal expressions of interest to Barrick.

With the help of Australian mining equipment industry body Austmine, the patrons will evaluate proposals over the next month with a view to creating a shortlist of vendors to submit formal proposals.

Once a suitable solution is selected, Barrick expects to start site trials within the next few years.

Barrick president and CE Mark Bristow says the company is proud to lend its support to, and play a part in, this initiative, which promises to accelerate the industry’s decarbonisation.

“At Barrick, we have set ourselves an emissions reduction target of 30% by 2030 against our 2018 baseline and our vision is to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.

“While we have already made clear strides in meeting these targets, we are constantly looking at new and innovative ways to further enhance our environmental credentials.”