Dominic Hamers at Boulevard 2044: Progress would be impossible without mining
‘People and communities have to understand that it would be impossible to reach net zero without mining. We at GEOTECHMIN GROUP, especially at Ellatzite-Med, have been constantly striving to extract more copper from less natural resources, using less water, less energy, and reducing our environmental footprint,’ said Mr Dominic Hamers, Executive Director of Geotechmin OOD
at Boulevard 2044 forum organised by BGlobal magazine as part of its series “Pilots of the Future”.
He talked about the pivotal role of copper in the transition towards clean, low-carbon economy and the challenges facing the copper mining industry. For example, high-quality copper projects are increasingly rare and major new discoveries are dwindling. Furthermore, ore grades are rapidly declining, the mining sector faces labour shortage, populist protests, and geopolitical instability. The process from the first borehole to actual mining production is lengthy, averaging 16.5 years – that is, the process of permitting new mines and expanding existing ones is complex and time-consuming.
Addressing the copper supply challenge will require regulatory policy considerations, technological innovations in copper extraction and refining, and a careful evaluation of other minerals upon which copper development depends. In this regard, Mr Hamers highlighted some measures that would be of utmost importance. Amongst them are: 1) Governments need to incentivise exploration and support new copper mine projects; 2) Nearly all the mined copper is still in circulation and recyclable, so it is important to recover 100% of the recyclable copper locked in copper scrap. Recycling is less energy consuming and has no additional environmental footprint; 3) It is imperative to develop technologies for sustainable copper extraction from low-grade ores, etc.
Yoana Markovska, a second-year student majoring Hydrogeology and Engineering Geology at the University of Mining and Geology “St Ivan Rilski” (UMG) also took part in the presentation. In a conversation with Dominic Hamers about the future of mining, she explained that deep-sea mining is one of the viable methods of extracting copper which is essential for the green transition. ‘The world-class expertise and numerous seabed surveys performed by leading deep-sea mining companies show that the future of mining is on the ocean floor. We must also take into account that the seabed is formed of ores which are far richer in gold and copper than ores found on land,’ said Yoana Markovska. ‘Metals are indispensable in a wide range of industries, in our homes, in medicine, and no matter how much we are striving to limit their use, our daily lives are unthinkable without them. Mining metal ores is not going to stop, because secondary metal recovery from used batteries and other materials would not be enough to meet the rapid demand,’ concluded the UMG student.
