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Leadership Academy in Sustainable Uranium and Critical Materials
Production from Phosphates and other Sources
East China University of Technology/ Swiss International Hotel
Nanchang, August 24-28, 2015
Disruption
• Occurs (is necessary) when optimisation has peaked
• May also be known as “creative destruction” (the beginning and the end of the steam engine)
• Step change
– Copper to fibre optic
– Main frame to PC to lap top to tablet
– Unforeseen convergence (a phone is a camera)
– Completely new options… smart phone
– 1 or 2 (or more) orders of magnitude cheaper (air travel)
DESIRED OUTCOME: SECURE THE “FEW”
• Food security
• Energy security
• Water security
“SUSTAIN THE MANY”
Leadership Academy , Nanchang, August 24-28, 2015
4
We live in interesting times
• Problem statement: mining in despair
• Problem analysis: disequilibrium between output and outcome = waste
• Way forward: find new equilibrium
Output and outcome seek equilibrium
• Output: QUANTITIES – Tonnes
– Target minerals
– Cut off grades
– Return on investor investment
• Outcome: QUALITIES – Grades
– Mineral value add
– Products
– Return on customer investment
The new point of equilibrium
• Outputs and outcomes converge
– Zero waste
– Comprehensive extraction
– Social licence
• Mineral as asset = future proofing
• Hope delivered = return on stakeholder and shareholder investment
Consequences
• New point of equilibrium changes understanding of:
– Capacity-building
– Value add
– Infrastructure
Eg Train → Instruct → Educate → Empower
Point of departure Zero waste
ALARA
Aleff Group 2015 10
The EU Model
The new equilibrium 1. Environmental: zero waste (0W) 2. Techno-economic: comprehensive extraction (CX) 3: Social: social licence to operate (SLO)
SLO
CX 0W
Resilient + Sustainable Project Life-cycles
t 100 years/ 4 generations
upstream downstream - Shared value /
- community dividend / - equitable distribution of benefits
Summary
WASTE HIERARCHY
LIFECYCLE MANAGEMENT
INNOVATION
UNCONVENTIONAL RESOURCES
SECTORAL STRENGTHENING
ZERO WASTE
OPTIMISATION
STEP CHANGE
SOCIAL
ENVIRONMENTAL
Co-product
By-product
i) reasonable ii) appropriate iii) proportionate iv) affordable v) sustainable.
What is the nature of the leadership required to get there?
- In Mining and Extractive Industries?
The Road Ahead: IAEA BoG (2014)
Mr ANDEREYA (Chile), speaking on behalf of the Group of 77 and China, said that ... • The Group noted with appreciation the meetings and training
courses organized by the • Secretariat during the reporting period (2014) on the identification
and extraction of uranium resources and • assessment of the availability of unconventional uranium resources.
It encouraged the Agency to • continue on that path and requested the Secretariat to continue to
promote the participation of experts • from developing countries in such activities in the future. •
The Blind Men and the Elephant
Leadership through Vision and Narrative
Where to go
Why to go there
Every march starts with the first step
President Xi Jinping: The Silk Road Beneficiator
In his keynote speech at the annual conference of the 2015 Boao Forum for Asia, Xi cited a series of proverbs from different nations to accentuate that “people from across the world all have a ready interest in mutually beneficial collaboration”
During his key note speech, the Chinese president called on the continent to take part in a programme he launched: the so-called ‘Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-century Maritime Silk Road Initiatives.’ “The programme and the establishment of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank – AIIB – are open to all,” he said. “We welcome the countries along the road and all the Asian nations. We also welcome friends from every continent.” Britain has announced they’ll sign up for the AIIB, an institution providing financial support to Xi’s programme.
Beneficiation through
Cooperation
The end of the age of the single target resource
“Zero waste” or
Zero waste?
Sustainable mining: an oxymoron?
“While sustainable development is a term that is frequently used, its juxtaposition with minerals and metals is frequently viewed as a contradiction. […]As minerals and metals products are significant contributors to society, we need to understand better the components of sustainable development so as to understand the future of mineral investment. Many countries need environmentally sensitive, socially responsible mineral development to provide the economic base for their other aspirations including poverty alleviation.” Institute for Global Resources Policy and Management, Colorado School of Mines, Metal Mining Agency of Japan, United Nations Environment Programme, Sustainable Development and the Future of Mineral Investment, eds. James M. Otto and John Cordes, May 2000.
The Mining Company of the Future
“Mining companies, mining communities, indigenous peoples, businesses that depend on mining products and everyone who shares this planet, must work together to help create prosperity and eliminate poverty in the context of a livable and inherently sustainable planet. Only by working together can we change the way people think about resource development and the realization of a “meaningful existence” for all citizens. The KIN Catalyst: Mining Company of the Future provides a bridge that takes us from the insular current state of the mining industry to a more innovative and collaborative future. While we acknowledge the positive progress the mining industry has made in developing its sustainable mining practices agenda, we seek to inspire and encourage the industry to truly stretch beyond its current ‘innovation sandbox’”. KELLOGG INNOVATION NETWORK: Mining Company of the Future. Reinventing Mining: Creating Sustainable Value, Introducing the Development Partner Framework (2014).
Shared value (oil and gas)
“Few sectors have a more urgent need to recast a short-term community risk mindset into a shared value model. Maintaining the status quo is no longer an option as protests and disruptions mount, companies move into ever more remote locations, and governments seek partners with a shared value mindset with which to develop resources.“ Michael Porter, Foreword to: FSG FOUNDATION, Extracting with Purpose, Creating Shared Value in the Oil and Gas and Mining Sectors’ Companies and Communities, 2014. http://sharedvalue.org/resources/report-extracting-purpose
Africa Mining Vision
The Africa Mining Vision (AMV) (2009) is driven by a clear understanding of the urgent need in the African region for “transparent, equitable and optimal exploitation of mineral resources to underpin broad-based sustainable growth and socio-economic development”. To be sustainable such growth and development would need to be built not on a traditional mining model of investor return but on equitable “triple bottom line” principles - financial success, contribution to social and economic development, and environmental stewardship – in which shareholders and stakeholders both benefit. AFRICAN UNION, Africa Mining Vision (February 2009). http://www.africaminingvision.org/amv_resources/AMV/Africa_Mining_Vision_English.pdf
Critical dependencies
Three critical dependencies which the AMV identifies, each requiring significant investment:
1. systematic development of human resources (capacity-building);
2. value-add activities such as processing and product development rather than the export of raw materials;
3. enhanced infrastructure for mining and processing, energy, transportation and communications.
Mining industry needs a new 100 year narrative
“For even one stakeholder group to drink at the legitimate, competitive, sustainable industry waterhole of the future, all stakeholders have to be there. Realising that all stakeholders need each other and belong together should frame the trade-offs and compromises that are inevitable. Productivity, profitability and positive narrative are all critical and take on a new dimension in 2015 defining the future of the mining sector. This new context is modernisation and it is the bridge to a new mining future. To change the narrative of a 100+ year old industry, in a way that unleashes potential and inspires hope requires that we actually have to change, and that means us!” Bernard Swanepoel, Invitation to the 2015 Johannesburg Mining Indaba
Necessary and sufficient conditions
For a new 100 year
(4 generation) narrative
Necessary: Triple Bottom Line
• Environmental: zero waste (0W)
• Techno-economic: comprehensive extraction (CX)
• Social: social licence to operate (SLO)
First order predicate: “not waste” [= not p]
Sufficient: A new point of equilibrium
• End of “boom and bust” cycles
• Shared value / community dividend / equitable distribution of benefits
• Social and economic resilience
The Great Disruption
Zero Waste: Canada Mining Innovation Council, (2014)
“Base metal mines typically recover less than 1% of the volume of rock extracted. Most gold deposits recover less than 0.001%. Typical cut off grades for uranium mean that 1 million tonnes of rock mined yields 200-300 tonnes of uranium ore. The result is the extraction of huge volumes of rock that end up either in mine waste piles or tailings ponds. Both represent a major part of production cost and of the mine footprint that must be managed for their potential environmental after mine closure. The Canadian mining industry’s greatest challenge then is how to more efficiently extract the desired commodity through the minimal displacement of host rock, and more effectively managing mine tailings that continue to be produced.” KONDOS, P., WEATHERELL, C., Towards Zero Waste Mining : The Evolution of Canada’s Mineral Sector, Canada Mining Innovation Council, (2014).
Australian Institute of Mining and Minerals
“The total quantity of directly produced wastes decreases along the value chain from mining to manufacturing to recycling. The largest quantities of solid and liquid wastes are produced during mining and beneficiation, while the major quantities of gaseous wastes are produced during high-temperature chemical processing, particularly smelting of metals and cement manufacture. Wastes from mining and beneficiation have the largest potential environmental impact on land and water, and chemical processing wastes have the largest potential impact on the atmosphere.” Rankin, W.J., Towards zero waste, AUS IMM Bulletin June 2015. https://www.ausimmbulletin.com/feature/towards-zero-waste/
The new mining and processing economy
“Company behaviour has moved in recent decades from complying with regulations to corporate social responsibility. In the next decades, it will need to move progressively to ‘closing the loop’ strategies to dramatically reduce the quantities of wastes. The drivers for change have moved from being almost exclusively profit to include regulations, stakeholders and increasingly to changing social values. In parallel, the materials cycle focus has shifted from a narrow focus on products towards including co-products. Increasingly, focus will shift to the entire materials cycle and, ultimately, to the entire economy.” Rankin, W.J., Towards zero waste, AUS IMM Bulletin June 2015. https://www.ausimmbulletin.com/feature/towards-zero-waste/
Sustainability = Changing the Way We Look at Resources
Nothing goes unnecessarily to waste
Aleff Group 2015 35
THE GROWING PHOSPHATE VALUE CHAIN
Scoping, Design and Business Case:
- Current state
- Future state
- Gap analysis
- Business case/ drivers
- Timeline
-“Order of magnitude” analysis
- scorecard
- shareholders and stakeholders
U 3G/4G Smart mining and processing
Green U = product and co-product Fuel/ energy security
Clean, safe, affordable energy Zero waste
Resilient social capital
The 12 Principles of Green Engineering (1)
1: Designers need to strive to ensure that all material and energy inputs and outputs are as inherently non-hazardous
as possible.
2: It is better to prevent waste than to treat or clean up waste after it is formed.
3: Separation and purification operations should be
designed to minimize energy consumption and materials
use.
4: Products, processes, and systems should be designed to maximize mass, energy, space, and time efficiency.
The 12 Principles of Green Engineering (2)
5: Products, processes, and systems should be “output
pulled” rather than “input pushed” through the use of
energy and materials.
6: Embedded entropy and complexity must be viewed as an investment when making design choices on recycle,
reuse, or beneficial disposition.
7: Targeted durability, not immortality, should be a design goal.
8: Design for unnecessary capacity or capability (e.g., “one size fits all”) solutions should be considered a design
flaw.
The 12 Principles of Green Engineering (3)
9: Material diversity in multicomponent products should be minimized to promote disassembly and value retention. 10: Design of products, processes, and systems must include integration and interconnectivity with available energy and materials flows. 11: Products, processes, and systems should be designed for performance in a commercial “afterlife”. 12: Material and energy inputs should be renewable rather than depleting.
Comprehensive Extraction
“Disturb the ground once… extract everything of value in one pass” • Rethink the flowsheet… rethink the outcome • Include residues and tailings… zero waste • Develop new business 3G and 4 G business models
– Analogous to the Moore’s Law, but for resources (oil, gas, minerals)
• Engage with stockholders and stakeholders to achive “win/win” – the cooperative game theory … leading to significantly heightened social acceptance (social licence to operate)
• Already happening … See: New 'Comprehensive' Approaches to Uranium Mining and Extraction http://www.iaea.org/OurWork/ST/NE/NEFW/News/2011/repository/New-Comprehensive-Approaches-to-Uranium-Mining-and-Extraction.html
CX Methodology
Quantities associated with known and potential resources
Contained in Ore concentrates/Phosphoric acid/other intermediate products
Not Commercial for current extraction
Potential for Commercial extraction
Commer-cially
Extracted quantities
Dissipated in products, wastes,
environment
Not extracted; available in Wastes/PG
process water
Available in raffinate and slags
Available in tailings and
clays
Accurate and transparent management of essential materials
• CX practice derived from comprehensive extraction theory
• Whole life-cycle, addressing all available resources from a given site/ deposit
• Multi-target resource management, eg energy basin management models
• Primary and secondary resources seen as single, complex resource
• Reuse and recycling – leading to zero waste
• Develop new product development as strategic alternative to waste disposal (eg from recycling tailings or residues)
• Net positive contribution to Food Energy and Water security (FEW)
CX Resource Progression/ aligned to UNFC
Conceptual Studies
Order of Magnitude
Studies
Pre-feasibility Studies
Feasibility Studies
Project Implementation
Mine closure, Remediation and
Handover Conceptual
Studies Scoping Studies
Pre-feasibility Studies
Feasibility Studies
Project Implementation
Decom-
missioning
Commercial Project Potentially
Commercial Project
Non-Commercial Project
Extraction Project
Additional Quantities in
Place
Extraction Project
Development Unclarified
Development Pending
Justified for Development
Approved for Development
On Production
Sales Production
Non-Sales Production
(Dissipated in wastes,
products & environment)
Development On Hold
Development Not Viable
3 3 4 3 3 4 3 2 1,2,3 2 2 1,2,3 1 1 1,2,3
Accurate and transparent management of essential materials throughout the lifecycle
Scope:
• TBL 1 - Social licence to operate (SLO) (social)
• TBL 2 - Comprehensive extraction (CX) (techno-economic)
• TBL 3 - Zero waste (0W) (environmental)
CX (2)
SLO (1)
0W (3) (Zero Waste)
Sustainable TBL
47
PHOSPHATE ROCK – THE WET PROCESS
48
What do I see? Single Mineral or
Complex Resource? … How conventional
do I feel?...
What do I mean by waste?
Rationale – Rethinking “Waste”
• Projects for managing any waste in isolation from the processes that generate them are running against the policy objectives of the waste hierarchy (e.g., EU Waste Framework Directive, 1975; US Non-Hazardous Waste Management Hierarchy) – disposal as the last, and least desirable of the management options
– projects showing signs of “not performing well when undertaken purely as waste management tasks”
EU US
50
Have Your Yellowcake and Eat It?
THE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT CYCLE
51
Waste Hierarchy
• progressive / step-wise transformation of waste to resource, with a hierarchy of waste itself premised as
– i. prevention (or transformation to resource),
– ii. minimisation,
– iii. reuse;
– iv, recycling,
– v. disposal.
52
Lose it?
53
Cotton Growth and Yield (up to 200-
300% increase over 3 years, (ICARDA))
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
Control PG 3.3-Jan PG 8.0-Jan PG 3.3-Apr PG 8.0-Apr
Co
tto
n y
ield
(kg
/h
a)
Treatments
2006 2007
— Phosphogypsum
+ Phosphogypsum
Kazakhstan
OR USE IT?
54
Context
• Building resilient social capital – Competency-based training [role of industry and the operator] – Culture of safety/ HSE (ALARA – As Low As Reasonably Achievable) not
the Precautionary Principle) – Social Licence to Operate – Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) leading to
Environmental and Social Management Plan (ESMP
• U mining as a NORM industry • U in energy provision
– Energy security/ Base load provision – Clean energy/ disengagement from carbon
• U in context – sustainable development – U as reference case for sector-wide growth – Contribution to FEW principles – 80% of any U project contributes to the wider economy
• U 4G
Themes
• Needs – vos besoins
• Développment durable/ sustainable development
• Competency-based Safety Culture
• Current State
• The New Point of Equilibrium – Community Investment Dividend
Tulsidas U project high-level life-cycle
Resource future proofing/ social
resilience
Social licence starts here
DECISION GATES
Derisking strategies/ project resilience
analysis
Techno-economic optimisation
Process optimisation
Mine Implementation Plan: Milestone
Operational Milestones
Mining Licence/ Social Licence
Construction Start
Mining/ Milling Start
Yellowcake Shipment
Mine Closure
Handback/ remediation/
Future proofing
Competency -based Training
Regulatory Readiness and Capability
