ESG
Building sustainability from the ground up As one of mining’s most respected OEMs, Epiroc is always ahead of the curve when it comes to industry developments and advancements. Now, the company takes the ESG plunge.
Epiroc is placing a particular emphasis on its ESG standards.
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piroc is becoming an important player in mining’s decarbonisation hunt, as the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) hones its products and offerings to enable mining companies to advance their practices. The mining industry is amid a fastpaced transition to work smarter, safer and more sustainably, and as a trusted supporter of the sector, more is being asked of Epiroc every day. To ensure it sustains its reputation as one of mining’s leading OEMs, Epiroc is placing a particular emphasis on its environmental, social and governance (ESG) standards. Evolving sustainability is a critical cog to ESG, and Epiroc safety, health, environment and quality (SHEQ) manager David Galbraith says renewable energy is playing a big part in the company’s green push. Epiroc has more than 16 service centres across Australia located in capital cities, regional hubs, and key mining and drilling sites. Deploying greater renewable energy across the company’s branches has been an expansive but united operation, as all stakeholders understand its urgency and importance.
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“I think our renewable energy (usage) was at 14.2 per cent at the beginning of 2021. It’s now at 55 per cent and we’re working on projects to get that to 80 per cent in the next two years,” Galbraith says. “To get to where we are now, it was a matter of going back to our providers and saying, ‘Can you give us green energy and for a minimal cost?’. It was quite achievable so that’s the way we’re going with most of our branches.” The renewable energy push forms part of Epiroc’s sustainability goals, whereby the company has an objective of halving its CO2 emissions by 2030 across four different areas – operations, transport, products and suppliers. Galbraith says the embrace of renewable energy is proving important to decreasing emissions in Epiroc’s operations, while in transport the company is transitioning from air freight to sea freight where it can. Remanufacturing is also playing an important role. “Some of the other measures we’re looking at include remanufacturing (reman). While reman is something we’ve always done, we didn’t initially think we did it that well until we took a closer look at it,” Galbraith says. “We actually reman a lot which does reduce what comes into the country. And
it depends on the components; we will try and source them locally where we can, but in other situations we’ll have a reman hub set up and used products will go back to that particular location.” Mining customers can sign up to Epiroc’s dedicated Reman Program, where they will have the opportunity to return used components in exchange for remanufactured components, giving parts a new lease on life. Epiroc upgrades the used components at its purpose-built facilities, ensuring the latest OEM engineered improvements are made. Once remanufactured, components go through a testing process to ensure no shortcuts are made on product quality or longevity. The Reman Program offers customers a lower-cost option to purchasing new parts and reduces their footprint in the process. As the technology becomes more readily available, battery-powered vehicles will form a quintessential part of Epiroc’s decarbonisation ambitions going forward. A battery-driven electric fleet facilitates savings on maintenance, ventilation and cooling, as one of the biggest expenditures in many mining operations is the cost of ventilation related to the use of diesel. With electric machinery, that cost can be cut by at least half. In 2021, the company deployed its first Australian battery loader to a copper mine in Cobar, New South Wales. The Scooptram ST14 front-end loader is assisting the mining company to reduce its diesel emissions without losing out on productivity. Epiroc also has battery-powered trucks and drill rigs in the pipeline in Australia, and as part of its 2030 sustainability goals, the company will continue to explore more ways of how it can increase electrification in its machines. “One of our targets is to offer a full range of emissions-free products. That doesn’t mean that every product will be non-diesel but there
