Recent actions by influential mining companies show that investing towards environment protection can be economically sustainable and profitable.
Within the mining industry, energy consumption takes up almost 25% of production costs. Companies such as Barrick Gold Crop. and Rio Tinto PLC are investing significant amounts of money in building reneweble energy infrastructures. Barrick Gold Corp, for example, has recently initiated its $70 million wind farm project in Chile. The company’s vice president exemplifies the sentiment that this is one of many renewable energy projects that will be taken on in the future. Other mining companies are following suit. Their collective actions show that renewable energy is more economically sustainable in the long term than traditional forms of energy.
These companies are taking the initiative to make long-term investments beneficial to the environment, even ahead of government policies, which have yet to find ways to regulate the industry through carbon taxes and credits. I think that the “green revolution” that many industries will go through in the future will come only partly from government pressures. More importantly, it will come from pressures within the market for innovation and retaining a competitive advantage. For example, in Diavik Diamond Mines Inc.’s case, investment in a $30 million wind farm is projected to save about $5 million each year in diesel costs. No matter if the decisions are driven purely by economics or not, this turn towards sustainability is reassuring.
Photo credit: http://www.outback-australia-travel-secrets.com/finding-jobs-in-the-mining-industry.html
Credit: The Globe and Mail, Miners turn to renewable energy to cut costs (Brenda Bouw), Wednesday November 16, 2011
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