The Coalition for Energy Efficient Comminution (CEEC) has announced two impressive new appointments to help drive its agenda to accelerate eco-efficient comminution through helping industry to collaborate and communicate advances that lower the footprint of mining and mineral processing.
Bryan Rairdan, Teck Resources Limited Technical Director Processing, has been appointed to the volunteer Board, while Emeritus Professor Tim Napier-Munn, one of the founding Directors of CEEC, will strengthen the global not-for-profit organisation in his new role as Patron.
With Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance (ESG) considerations a critical part of strategic decision making across industry today, new Director Bryan Rairdan said he was excited to be more closely involved in an organisation that was passionate about sharing ways to extract minerals in the most resource-efficient manner.
Based in Alberta, Canada, Mr Rairdan brings extensive expertise in mineral processing operations management and process design as well as senior leadership across mine sites and research facilities.
He said, thanks to its network of worldwide experts, CEEC was well poised to lead change in helping industry to reduce the energy and water used for blasting, crushing and grinding ore.
“Accomplishing material improvements in a reasonable timeline can be challenging as a single corporate entity. By disseminating industry knowledge, research and best practice, CEEC helps miners to expedite actions that lead to more sustainable outcomes,” Mr Rairdan said.
“It’s very important to view the broader mining context through a carbon-minimising lens, taking into full consideration the energy, carbon and water intensity of our operations. This way, operators can make informed choices on how to best accomplish a processing goal with minimal carbon and water footprint.”
Prof. Napier-Munn said he was delighted to become a CEEC Patron and promote the organisation’s important global initiatives. A founding Director in 2011, Prof. Napier-Munn was instrumental in establishing the modus operandi of CEEC in its early days and helped industry and researchers collaborate to establish the CEEC Energy Curves benchmarking tool and the prestigious CEEC Medal.
UK-born and now retired from leadership roles with the University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia, he is a distinguished academic and a visionary leader with 50 years’ experience in mineral engineering, research and consulting.
Prof. Napier-Munn said his vision for the future was “to see massively reduced energy and water consumption throughout mineral processing, especially in comminution, the largest energy consumer on the mine site.”
“I’d also like to see cheap and carbon-free dispatchable power generated on remote mine sites, which will need some serious lateral thinking and abandonment of current paradigms, but the potential rewards are great,” he said.
“I believe that Boards and CEOs are open to endorsing investment in such advances when presented with a realistic case for the economic, social and environmental benefits.”
CEEC CEO Alison Keogh said the contributions of Prof. Napier-Munn and Mr Rairdan would further strengthen CEEC’s work with industry leaders to enhance comminution efficiency and shareholder value through innovation, collaboration and communication.
“Focusing on improving energy-hungry comminution and mineral processing is even more critical today given the heightened focus on ESG requirements and expectations. What’s emerging is a growing interest across industry for working together on critical shared challenges,” Ms Keogh said.
“CEEC offers a unique forum to share new ideas, innovative advances and best practice, enabling operators to take earlier actions to reduce their energy, emissions and water intensity, and also reap the flow-on benefits of improved shareholder value and community support.
“We encourage industry leaders, technical experts and suppliers to contribute to CEEC’s mission by fully utilising our online resources and events. By accessing, adding to and adopting this collective knowledge, together we can make great advances towards more sustainable comminution and associated mining practices.”
While CEEC’s online resources are independent and provided free of charge, they rely on the support of industry sponsors. To find out more about contributing to CEEC’s work, visit www.ceecthefuture.org/contribute.