CEEC has released a new series of video interviews with leaders from the industry and recipients of the 2020 CEEC Medal for Operations.
In the first video interview between CEEC CEO Alison Keogh and Newmont Executive Vice President Dean Gehring, Gehring discussed Newmont’s work, its ESG targets, and championed the value of collaborating across industry, especially on shared industry challenges such as safety, energy and water improvement.
Noting why sharing knowledge is important for industry’s ESG actions, he talked about Newmont’s involvement in two CEEC Medal wins.
He said: “For me, it's quite clear that there are some things that are just too important not to collaborate on”, noting working together can improve important industry challenges in safety, energy and water, and accelerate positive changes across industry and for the benefit of communities.
He added: “The 2020 Medal recognizes our contribution, but also raises the profile of this work to industry, and helps us all focus on practical solutions that in turn help the industry to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, so it stands out as a beacon”.
He also talked about the value of sponsoring CEEC’s not-for-profit work and collaborative projects such as Energy and Water Curves, which also help sites benchmark and improve. He shared why he believes more open knowledge sharing on shared industry challenges is so important. He also touched on technologies and embedding best practices and improvements across mine sites worldwide, to help reduce mining’s footprint, and why accelerating innovative eco efficient comminution and processing are key.
Newmont recently launched its inaugural Climate Strategy Report, which outlines the company’s climate-related risks and opportunities, strategic planning and pathways to achieving the climate targets it announced in November 2020. In addition, the report identifies the technology necessary to transition to a low-carbon economy. You can read more about the report and the company’s climate strategy here.
Over the last few years, Newmont’s Full Potential program has identified opportunities for the company to reduce its energy use and it will be an important driver in the company meeting its reduction targets. The company also plan to develop and implement a new Energy and Climate Standard to drive energy efficiency in a consistent manner across the business, noting that the potential emissions reduction opportunities related to efficiency improvements could be as high as 10% over this period. The report highlighted improving eco-efficiencies in comminution and mineral processing as one of the company’s projects that is already in place.
Among the opportunities the report highlighted for the low-carbon transition are several of Newmont’s large development projects that are situated in jurisdictions for the provision of long-term renewable energy, including Peru, Chile and the Canadian province of British Columbia.
The report noted that the company’s shift to a market-based emissions accounting approach allows it to more accurately account for emissions reductions associated with renewable energy installations over the near term. It also said that planning for the longer-term development of technology to support all electric large-scale mines will be critical to ensure mobile equipment and energy-efficient processing equipment is available.
Launching the report in June, Newmont President and CEO Tom Palmer said: “It is our firm belief that climate change is one of the greatest challenges of our time and that Newmont must be a catalyst for change. It is our responsibility to operate our business in a sustainable way in order to generate long-term value whilst mitigating climate change’s effect on our operations. We continue to hold ourselves to high standards of performance while continuing our commitment to transparent reporting.”
Watch CEEC CEO’s interview with Dean Gehring and the 2020 CEEC Medal for Operations winners presentation and interviews here.