Working to increase backwards linkages from mining investment

During my MSc Development Studies degree at LSE, one of the topics that interested me most was Albert Hirschman’s concept of backwards linkages. Briefly, he defined backward linkage effects as when the establishment of a new industry creates possibilities for local industries to expand production through the supply of inputs to the new entrant to the economy. He argued that developing countries could benefit from creating backwards linkages whereby domestic enterprises would supply the operations of investing companies

The chance to get it right: Africa’s opportunity to truly benefit from mining investment

Former Development Studies student, Jeff Geipel, now Venture Lead for Mining Shared Value, Engineers Without Borders Canada, talks about the importance of the Mining on Top: Africa Summit taking place in London this week from June 24-26. [See original PDF here.

Mining a Mirage: Reassessing the Shared-Value Paradigm in Light of the Technological Advances in the Mining Sector

While there has been a strong tendency in resource rich countries to push for more stringent local content regulations, the mining sector is looking to move towards increased automation. In this study titled Mining a Mirage: Reassessing the Shared-Value Paradigm in Light of the Technological Advances in the Mining Sector, CCSI, IISD and Engineers Without Borders researched the technological innovations that are being developed, assessing when these technologies could be rolled out, and quantifying the potential impacts automation may have on local employment and procurement and on the shared value paradigm. The objective was to better understand how governments could adapt local content, industrial and fiscal policies in order to better prepare for and embrace technological advances in the mining sector

New Tech, New Deal: Mining Policy Options in the Face of New Technology

Throughout the history of mining, technological innovation has played a vital role across all cycles of mining projects. The new wave of technological adoption is a combination of evolutionary and revolutionary technologies, with an increasing focus on the latter. An acceleration in investments in disruptive technologies in recent years has seen the large-scale mining sector finally catching up with a dynamic that has already advanced in many other sectors. The reasons for this shift include more difficult geology, declining ore deposits, the need to reverse a secular decline in productivity, the need to improve safety for mine workers, a need to manage environmental impacts, and – more recently – a reaction to pressures from the COVID-19 crisis. The technologies in question are a suite of different innovations brought from other fields that work together in concert: • Enablers of digitization such as radio-frequency identification (RFID) sensors, wearables, drones, and satellites. • Users of big data such as machine learning and artificial intelligence. • Integrators of big data such as 5G, the Internet of Things (IoT), systems management software, and blockchain technology. • Process improvers such as automated machinery, electric vehicles, digital twins, water management and tailings recovery technologies, and renewable energy generation

New Tech, New Deal: Mining Policy Options in the Face of New Technology

Throughout the history of mining, technological innovation has played a vital role across all cycles of mining projects. The new wave of technological adoption is a combination of evolutionary and revolutionary technologies, with an increasing focus on the latter. An acceleration in investments in disruptive technologies in recent years has seen the large-scale mining sector finally catching up with a dynamic that has already advanced in many other sectors. The reasons for this shift include more difficult geology, declining ore deposits, the need to reverse a secular decline in productivity, the need to improve safety for mine workers, a need to manage environmental impacts, and – more recently – a reaction to pressures from the COVID-19 crisis. The technologies in question are a suite of different innovations brought from other fields that work together in concert: • Enablers of digitization such as radio-frequency identification (RFID) sensors, wearables, drones, and satellites. • Users of big data such as machine learning and artificial intelligence. • Integrators of big data such as 5G, the Internet of Things (IoT), systems management software, and blockchain technology. • Process improvers such as automated machinery, electric vehicles, digital twins, water management and tailings recovery technologies, and renewable energy generation

Mining a Mirage: Reassessing the Shared-Value Paradigm in Light of the Technological Advances in the Mining Sector

While there has been a strong tendency in resource rich countries to push for more stringent local content regulations, the mining sector is looking to move towards increased automation. In this study titled Mining a Mirage: Reassessing the Shared-Value Paradigm in Light of the Technological Advances in the Mining Sector, CCSI, IISD and Engineers Without Borders researched the technological innovations that are being developed, assessing when these technologies could be rolled out, and quantifying the potential impacts automation may have on local employment and procurement and on the shared value paradigm. The objective was to better understand how governments could adapt local content, industrial and fiscal policies in order to better prepare for and embrace technological advances in the mining sector