Mining is an unloved, misunderstood sector. Its potential to catalyse the green energy transition is vast and critical. Eurasian Resources Group (ERG) is a leading diversified natural resources group at the vanguard of that catalysation.
ERG has more than 80,000 people working for it and has a foothold in more than 16 countries. ERG is leading the call to ensure that mining plays a key role in the transition and occupies its rightful place in the court of sustainability.
With the increase in demand for critical raw materials, coupled with their paucity, ERG is undertaking innovative methods to reprocess historic tailings such as in its flagship facility in the Democratic Republic of Congo – Metalkol – where it has expanded production capacity tenfold in the past three years.
ERG is a founding member of the Global Battery Alliance (GBA), a public-private platform, hosted originally on the platform of the World Economic Forum. The GBA is dedicated to ensuring an ethical and sustainable global value chain for the lithium-ion batters that can power the Fourth Industrial Revolution and a low carbon economy through electric vehicles, renewable energy technologies and smartphones.
Earlier this year, the GBA launched the world’s first Battery Passport, a digital twin of a battery which includes information relating the battery’s technical specifications, material provenance, and sustainability performance. The technical feasibility of the battery passport has been recognised by the EU and will become a mandatory requirement by 2026 – with other regions likely to follow suit.
Mining is a sophisticated endeavour, and ERG is harnessing cutting-edge technology effectively. Its NOMAD, for example, is a teleoperated remote sampling system which has been purpose-built for early exploration in harsh terrains, as those found in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. With temperatures rising and early exploration geological work becoming more arduous than ever before, the NOMAD exemplifies smart exploration tech: it enhances safety by reducing human involvement in perilous operations, while minimising environmental disturbance and enabling expedited analysis through its remote, mobile analysis station.
Watch the ERG COP28 interview here
ABOUT ERG:
Eurasian Resources Group (ERG) is a global metals and mining company, with a workforce of around 80,000 and integrated exploration, mining, processing, energy and logistics operations in Kazakhstan, Africa, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Brazil. ERG operates in 16 countries and is a growing supplier of critical raw materials that are enabling the global energy transition.
In Kazakhstan, ERG represents one third of the metals and mining industry. It is also a key power supplier and a large railway operator in Central Asia. ERG manages several of Kazakhstan’s leading production entities, including Kazchrome, SSGPO, Kazakhstan Aluminium Smelter (KAS), Aluminium of Kazakhstan, Eurasian Energy Corporation, and others.
ERG is the world’s largest high-carbon ferrochrome producer by chrome content and one of the largest producers of cobalt. It is also a large global supplier of copper and high-grade iron ore. In Eurasia, it is one of the largest suppliers of alumina and is Kazakhstan’s only producer of high-grade aluminium.
In Africa, ERG mines and processes copper and cobalt ore and produces copper metal and cobalt hydroxide. Frontier is the cornerstone of the Group’s copper business, and ERG’s Metalkol, a major tailings reprocessing operation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, has become the world’s second largest producer of cobalt as well as a major producer of copper. The Group has its own supply chain on the continent through its logistics company Sabot as well as development projects which are focused on other minerals and products across Africa, including in South Africa and Zimbabwe.
In Brazil, ERG is developing BAMIN, an integrated mining and logistics project in the State of Bahia, which comprises the Pedra de Ferro iron ore mine, the Porto Sul deep-water port and the associated stretch of the new FIOL broadgauge railway.
In the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, ERG is focused on adopting a technological leadership position through industry partnerships, with the Kingdom serving as a strategic base for an advanced, high-impact hub to sustainably meet mineral demand. ERG intends to expedite early-stage exploration in the Kingdom to help meet the surging demand for battery metals, by deploying innovative and sustainable exploration technologies through its Technology Intelligence division.
ERG is a Strategic Partner Associate of the World Economic Forum and a founding member of the Global Battery Alliance (GBA) which is dedicated to establishing a sustainable and responsible global supply chain for the lithium-ion batteries that can power the Fourth Industrial Revolution and a low carbon economy through mobile devices, electric vehicles and renewable energy systems.
Since its establishment in 2017, the GBA has grown into a partnership with of more than 150 businesses, governments, academics, industry actors, international and non-governmental organisation. The GBA piloted the Battery passport in Davos this year. The Battery Passport in will likely become a compulsory requirement in Europe by 2026, with other geographies likely to follow suit in the future.
ERG is also a co-founder of the Re|Source initiative, working together with CMOC, Glencore, Umicore and Tesla. The initiative uses blockchain to track cobalt and other battery materials in real operating conditions from the mine to an electric vehicle.
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