Green Mining Market

Market Overview

The Global Green Mining Market Size Will significantly Grow At a CAGR of 7.4% By the Forecast Period.

Green mining refers to the process of using advanced technologies and practices to extract valuable minerals and geological materials from the earth as a means to reduce environmental impacts and increase focus on reducing emission and maintaining ecology. It aims to reduce the adverse environmental as well as social influences in all stages of the operations by promoting material and energy efficiency and ensuring the availability of mineral resources. It uses selective mining approaches for the reduction of ecological footprint, greenhouse gases, and chemical use, and offers superior performance.

The benefits of green mining market include minimal mining wastage, availability of mineral resources for future generations, and restoration of the mining areas to allow other types of land use after mine closure. Long-run concerns about climate change and the government's support towards sustainability is expected to increase the demand for green mining market in the coming future. Thus, this market has a broad scope and is anticipated to grow at a lucrative CAGR during the forecast period. However, the high cost of mining activities hampers market growth.

Market Dynamics

Growing Environmental Concern to Drive the Demand for Green Mining Market Globally

The increase in the development and utilization of mines at local, regional, and global levels has caused severe environmental problems and a variety of geological disasters, such as loss of biodiversity, sinkholes, erosion, and contamination of soil, surface water, and groundwater. This has affected the quality of biodiversity and human health and has set alarms and concerns regarding minimizing the environmental impact, keeping a balance between exploitation of resources and environmental protection, further driving the market growth. 

The continuous changes in the climatic conditions, owing to the surging levels of carbon dioxide, drought, heavy precipitation, and heat, are driving the demand for green mining market for sustainable development. Pressure from various governments, investors, and societies on companies to reduce emissions are expected to increase the rate of adoption of green mining market.

The International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM) brings together about 21 international metals and mining companies, which employ over a third of the 2.5 million people, to sign up to a set of performance standards that are based on ten sustainable development principles.  Also, under the 2015 Paris Agreement, 195 countries took a pledge to limit global warming below 2.0°C, so that it helps in reducing the carbon footprint across industries and creates shifts in commodity demand, resulting in the decline of global mining revenue pools.

Regional Analysis

Europe: Largest Consumer and Promoter of Green Mining Practices

Europe's green mining market is largely driven by sustainable practices in Germany, Poland, Russia, and Turkey. The region is projected to emerge as the largest consumer and promoter of green mining practices. Furthermore, the use of better technologies to protect the environment by controlling greenhouse gas emissions is also anticipated to drive the market growth.

As per the United Nations Industrial Development Organization, Germany and Brazil are economies with a higher level of development and sophisticated industrial structure. The below figure shows the reduction in GHG emissions in Germany over the years due to sustainable practices. GHG emissions have been reduced by 25% since 1990. The renewables have reached a share of over 12% in gross final energy consumption, and there is a drop of nearly 5% in primary energy consumption.

Segmental Analysis

Surface Mining Segment to Hold the Largest Market Share

The surface mining segment holds the largest market share, owing to its benefits such as higher productivity, efficiency, and low costs. The equipment used for maintaining productivity in underground mining is more expensive as compared to open-pit equipment. Furthermore, the open-pit provides a large production scale and reduces production costs, further increasing the demand for surface mining.

Power Reduction Segment Dominates the Market

The power reduction segment dominates the market. It is the difference between the current energy and best practice energy consumption that corresponds to the opportunities, which are energy-saving from the investments made in these technologies. As per the Coalition for Energy Efficient Comminution, the process uses about 50% of the complete mine's energy, approximately 3% of the total global electricity production, and about 10% of the total production costs. Since mines do not have much control over the cost incurred in energy, it is necessary for processes to meet the requirements along with reducing the amount of energy or power.

Recent Developments

• Glencore is using renewable energy resources with the help of a wind turbine and storage system that helps in producing maximum energy for its Raglan mine. Glencore's Raglan mine is not connected to natural gas or hydroelectric networks but operates cost-effectively to extract nickel.
• Rio Tinto, the first company to be confirmed under the aluminum stewardship initiative, is working to improve the productivity and efficiency of its operations and was able to reduce its emissions by almost 30%. About 70% of its electricity is from low carbon renewable energy, which is used across the organization.
• Vale S.A invested USD 487 million for the improvement in environmental performance in 2017. The most significant investment was in water resources, atmospheric emissions, and waste management.
• BHP Billiton installed real-time air monitoring networks, which will allow the company to get proper feedback about the off-site dust impacts. It will further help in making necessary changes in the activities related to dust mitigation.
• Vale S.A invested an amount of USD 487 million in environmental performances and its improvement, among which waste management, water resources, and atmospheric emissions were the most significant investments.