Mine waste could be transformed into a ‘net-zero, multi-billion dollar opportunity’ – study

A multibillion–dollar opportunity awaits that could strengthen mining’s role in delivering the energy transition, according to a new report authored by Arca Climate Technologies, non-profit consultancy The Climate Agency and Will MacNamara, a former mining correspondent for the Financial Times.

The whitepaper, Beyond Extraction: Transforming Mine Waste Into A Net-Zero, Multi-Billion Dollar Opportunity, theoretically connects the surging demand for carbon removal credits with unique advantages of mine waste mineralization, compared to other carbon removal methods.

Arca is one of the first companies commercializing mineralization for the capture and storage of atmospheric CO2 that is supported by scientific research and technology development.

The company was named as one of Canada’s most investable cleantech ventures in 2022 and in the same year won a $1 million award from XPRIZE and the Musk Foundation in a carbon removal competition.

The carbon credit market has grown tenfold over the past two years and is forecasted by McKinsey to be worth up to $1.2 trillion by 2050.

The paper asserts that carbon removal credits, which have become the gold standard in carbon markets, are the route for mining companies to realize this revenue.

The authors note that mafic/ultramafic rocks — hosting nickel, diamond, chromium and many other mined ores — are a key feedstock for the carbon removal underpinning these credits.

“Companies that mine these ores sit on one of the great untapped resources for a low–carbon economy,” the report reads. “Tailings storage facilities around the world already contain mafic/ultramafic rock at a scale that can meaningfully remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

“This untapped resource will only grow over the next decade as miners extract more ore to supply the energy transition,” the authors write, adding that carbon mineralization technology partners can help mining companies capitalize on the opportunity, deploying new methods for carbon removal grounded in decades of academic research.”

Some of these technologies are already deployed on operational mine sites and independently certified. In 2023, Arca launched an 18 month a pilot project for air-to-rock carbon mineralization using mine tailings at a nickel mine in Australia to test the company’s methodology to capture and permanently store atmospheric carbon dioxide, and demonstrate the technologies can integrate safely at an operating mine.

With specific components in place, the report states that a growing waste stream can become a “carbon sink”, which can, in turn, become a revenue stream.

“Indeed, mineralization of mine waste is one of the most permanent, scalable and valuable paths to remove carbon from the atmosphere.”

The carbon removal opportunity stands to take this role much further, the authors note, adding that by providing built infrastructure, leaning into its industrial and geological expertise, and repurposing vast tailings facilities, mining is better positioned than other heavy–industrial sectors to deliver the billions of tonnes of carbon removal that scientific consensus demands.

“Carbon removal is going to have to be operating at the scale the oil and gas industry operates today. It represents transformative business opportunities as well as new sources of revenue,” Greg Dipple, Arca’s head of science, said in the report.

Read the full report here.