Co-creating data-driven decarbonisation solutions for mining and the world
There’s a tension between mining as a major source of carbon emissions and mining as the only source of the raw materials required for decarbonising the global economy.
Is this the biggest challenge in the global Net Zero debate?
“The whole world is in a race to decarbonise,” says Jeya Bavan, our Director, Strategy & Planning, “and the materials we require – for batteries, renewable energy technologies and everything in the decarbonisation world – must come from the resource industry. The challenge is that the industry has to decarbonise itself while meeting growing demand for its output.”
There can be no standing still or slowing down. The industry needs to change wheels while driving faster than ever before. By 2050, demand for copper is set to be 53 million tonnes – more than all the copper consumed in the world between 1900 and 2021!
At idoba, we believe the answer – for mining and the wider economy – lies in data and AI.
Ed Lewis, Director, Data & Analytics, explains, “We need to understand what our technology investments should be to enable us to reach those global decarbonisation targets.”
“There’s an envelope of possibilities,” he continues, “between the unrealistic (we can't wait until the last moment to decarbonise the entire economy) and the unachievable (we cannot decarbonise the entire economy overnight).”
Navigating the optimal path through those possibilities requires the analysis of vast amounts of data.
Applying AI to large volumes of data is the subject of WADSIH’s Data & AI for Business Conference and Exhibition at the Westin, Perth on 2nd and 3rd August and idoba is delighted to be a platinum sponsor of the event.
Jeya and Ed will be presenting on data-driven decarbonisation in their session on Day One.
The complexity of decarbonisation … and a data-driven solution
In their session, Ed and Jeya will discuss the decarbonisation challenge and how idoba works with clients to co-create data-driven solutions that tackle the complexity of a typical mining scenario.
“There are so many individuals along the value chain looking at different forms of data and different horizons,” Jeya says. “Everyone is very good at what they do in their own siloes, but too often there’s no decision platform that looks at everything together and in the same, immediate timeframe.”
AI is clearly part of the answer and our directors will discuss how idoba’s advanced technology provides that decision platform, helping clients navigate, simulate, model and optimise the complexity of their real-world operations in real time.
As just one example, the electrification of haul trucks has the potential to reduce carbon emissions in mining. But that can only be properly understood – and compared against other potential investments – by modelling and simulating a complex array of factors:
The type of electrification deployed: plug-in charging, swappable batteries or trolley assist (using overhead wires)
The necessary down-time for recharging truck batteries
The interaction of trucks, diggers and all other mine-site equipment
The exact routing of trucks (and the cost of changing routes)
The lifetime asset cost under different battery drain and recharge cycles.
Operating conditions in terms of route gradients, load times, dump times and many other factors.
Is electrification of any particular mine more beneficial than a smaller investment in optimising the mine’s entire pit-to-port operation to eliminate waste and inefficiencies? And how are those decisions affected by whether the source of electricity is renewable or coal-powered?
How green is your AI?
Jeya Bavan, Director - Strategy & Planning
It’s not just mining that generates CO2. What about the data centres that run your AI models? Today, everything runs in the cloud but, as Jeya observes, “The ether is still a place. Data is the answer to decarbonisation, but data itself is also a problem.”
The world’s data centres now produce more CO2 emissions than the global aviation sector. As MIT reports, training a single AI model can emit as much carbon as five cars in their lifetimes.
Google’s 2023 Environmental Report states that, because of AI, it replenishes only 6% of the fresh water it consumes. ChatGPT consumes half a litre of water for every 20-50 question-and-answer conversation.
Clearly, the world’s use of AI also needs to be optimised. Jeya and Ed will discuss how idoba’s DiiMOS™ technology and our recent development of conversational AI is helping to make clients’ use of AI more efficient, helping to reduce the impact of solving the wider decarbonisation challenge.
The WADSIH Data & AI for Business Conference & Exhibition
Did you attend the event?
Wherever you are on your AI journey, we hope you found the Data & AI for Business Conference and Exhibition event interesting and inspiring. The different speakers and sessions brought a wealth of different perspectives on the AI revolution and how it will apply in business.
Even if you’re not in the mining and resources sector, we hope that Ed and Jeya’s session inspired your own AI journey.
If you’d like to know more about Data and advanced AI, in mining and beyond, please get in touch with us.