BGV Takes Over The Experience In Automation And “Green Mining” From Leading Scandinavian Companies
BGV Group Management
In November 2023, a group of specialists and management of the companies as part of BGV Group Management, which has near 10 mining areas in its portfolio, visited a number of advanced mining enterprises in Sweden in order to take over experience and familiarize themselves with modern technologies of "green mining", carbon-free production and Scandinavian approaches of sustainable development of both mining projects and the industry as a whole.
Thus, within the framework of the experience exchange program, a meeting was held with one of the international leaders of the mining and metallurgical industry — the Swedish company LKAB. At the invitation of the partners, the BGV expert group visited the company's mines located beyond the Arctic Circle in the city of Kiruna, got acquainted with the technologies of iron ore mining, carbon-free iron production ("green steel") and inspected the latest mining technologies. We remind you that LKAB is one of the leaders in the sustainable development approaches implementation: the company's strategy by 2045 envisages reducing greenhouse gas emissions to zero during ore mining and processing.
Photo: BGV Group Management
The program also included getting to know the experts and visiting the facilities of the BOLIDEN AITIK, company, which operates the largest open pit copper mine in Sweden. The BGV Group visited the mining facilities in the city of Gallivare in northern Sweden and inspected the production facilities of the concentrate plant. At the production site, the BGV team got acquainted with unique technological processes and production automation. For example, the work of the entire production is provided by up to 10 employees, while the rest of the processes are switched to automatic mode. As of today, the company is also actively implementing initiatives for the digitalization of the quarry and shared with the BGV team the main approaches of its own strategy, the goal of which is to ensure continuous round-the-clock production with the maximum level of safety. The company's goal is to build a "quarry of the future", the operation of which will not require human intervention, but will be carried out by robotic equipment using AI. In the development of the latest technologies, the enterprise relies on three main components: electrification, automation, and digitalization. According to Boliden Aitik the enterprise implements these processes together with leading international companies such as Volvo, Ericsson, Atlas Copco, Sandvik and ABB.
Photo: BGV Group Management
In addition, Boliden Aitik shared with the BGV working group its own experience of minimizing the carbon footprint: in particular, due to the electrification of a large part of quarry equipment and a clear step-by-step strategy for reducing emissions of pollutants into the atmosphere.
«We really have a lot to learn from our Scandinavian partners – both in terms of advanced technologies and processes automation, and in terms of sustainable development approaches. We were amazed at how innovative quarries, mines and different stages of production can be. We were also able to see in practice, in concrete step-by-step actions, the results of minimizing the environmental impact of the mining industry. With great inspiration, Swedish companies shared with us the gender equality indicators in companies. For example, both women and men work as drivers of 150-ton trucks and large-sized equipment at the quarries of Swedish partners. Balance in everything – this is what the valuable Scandinavian experience demonstrated, which we have the opportunity to adopt, and most importantly, we intend to implement in Ukraine on the scale of BGV's mining projects», — emphasized Oleksandr Naumyk, CEO of BGV Group Management.
Photo: BGV Group Management
