From mindset to market: Driving AI innovation and sustainability in mining

The mining industry plays a critical role in achieving a more sustainable energy future. Solar panels, batteries, wind turbines, electric vehicles (EVs), and other carbon-free energy technologies rely on minerals such as graphite, copper, lithium, nickel, and cobalt. Research shows, however, that by 2030, existing mines and those under construction will produce just half of the cobalt and lithium and about 80% of the copper needed to continue meaningful production of EVs and other clean energy technology.¹

This critical minerals deficit presents an opportunity for today’s mining leaders to harness innovative technology solutions to not only accelerate and improve accuracy of exploration, but also to create more efficient, resilient processes across areas like labor and skills, regulations, and health and safety. One of the first and most promising steps toward solving some of mining’s biggest challenges is embracing a digital mindset and a unified approach to digital and AI transformation. 

Adopting a digital mindset and a unified approach

As the global energy marketplace faces new demands, mining companies and their partners face the need to increase digital fluency, skills, and effectiveness by integrating new tools, technology solutions, and learning methods, particularly as AI shows huge promise for improving operational efficiency.

For mining companies today, that means adopting a “digital mindset,” or a set of attitudes and behaviors that enable people and organizations to see how data, algorithms, and AI open up new possibilities and chart a path for success in a business landscape increasingly dominated by data-intensive and intelligent technologies.² A digital mindset encourages curiosity, continuous growth, and, critically, the opportunity to learn from mistakes—essential as rapid technology changes shorten typical skilling cycles and time to market. But successful adoption of a digital mindset also depends on how well employees internalize new digital values, attitudes, and behaviors.

Learning new skills and tools alone isn’t enough, though; employees must apply their new knowledge to accelerate business outcomes and create additional opportunities. This is where leaders can support by adopting a unified approach, grounded in both strategic collaboration and AI design wins, that prioritizes collective action and empowers employees. A unified approach ensures that all parts of the business work collaboratively towards common goals, breaking down silos and fostering a culture of continuous improvement. This holistic strategy not only boosts operational efficiency but also helps companies meet stringent environmental and social governance standards. Ultimately, a digital mindset combined with a unified approach enables mining companies to sustainably and safely navigate the complexities of modern industry.

Prioritizing partnerships and AI innovation

Elevating human performance with advanced AI-powered technology is a critical aspect of driving a digital mindset and a unified approach. Another fundamental piece is global partnership. The scale and complexity of today’s mining challenges make partnership essential; no single organization can drive this transformation alone. This point is illustrated by the reality of a chronic labor shortage, with 86% of mining executives finding it increasingly difficult to recruit and retain talent.³ More than ever, mining companies need to work together to pool knowledge, share resources, and establish a new baseline on digital and AI transformation across the industry.

Microsoft and our partners are here to help, offering the applications and other solutions from leading independent software vendors (ISVs) and system integrators (SIs) that can help mining companies achieve improved business outcomes, ultimately resulting in better customer relationships and more sustainable practices.

Now with AI, mining companies can leverage platforms like Azure OpenAI Service and Azure AI Document Intelligence to accelerate intelligent search velocity and accuracy on large exploration data sets they use. Streamlining this process with help from generative AI and automation allows them to create 3D models faster by significantly reducing the time spent searching and preparing data—potentially from weeks down to just minutes. There’s also potential for enormous overall productivity gains and empowerment to spend more time on high-value exploration projects, enhancing their efforts to increase production yields, reduce waste, and improve cost-efficiency and safety of extraction projects.

Across the mining workforce, employees are further seeing increased productivity with generative AI technology as they use tools like Microsoft Copilot to streamline tasks such as drafting emails, summarizing meetings, conducting research, analyzing data, generating manuals, and preparing presentations. Mining companies can take AI design wins even further with assistance from agents in Microsoft 365 Copilot. Agents in Copilot are AI assistants with expertise in a defined set of tasks, such as updating records or drafting support tickets. They can help boost productivity and save time, allowing for more focus on high-value work. Critically, we’re making it easy for energy companies to develop their own line-of-business agents with the user-friendly interface of Microsoft Copilot Studio, and agents developed by our ISV and SI partner ecosystem are also becoming available within the Azure Marketplace.

Fueling efficient, sustainable mining practices through Microsoft data and AI solutions

As mining companies progress on their digital transformation journeys, we’re quickly seeing the impact of high-performing AI and data management solutions. The stories below are just a few examples of how mining leaders have embraced a digital mindset, unified approach, and collaborative workflows while leveraging Microsoft data and AI solutions to improve efficiency and sustainability across their work.

Epiroc

Epiroc’s AI-powered approach to manufacturing offers valuable insights into AI’s role in the mining industry. As a leading rock excavation equipment manufacturer, Epiroc relies heavily on steel, which often consists of components like iron, metallurgical coal, manganese, cobalt, and other metals. Epiroc faced challenges with siloed data and data sharing practices across its global facilities, impacting the consistency of steel and efficiency of production. By utilizing Azure Machine Learning and Azure Data Factory, Epiroc integrated and analyzed data more effectively, enhancing decision-making and operational efficiency.

AI and machine learning models enabled Epiroc to automate complex processes, ensuring consistent steel quality and reducing inefficiencies, product returns, and waste. Impressively, Epiroc deployed a scalable AI solution within 60 hours, showcasing AI’s rapid implementation potential in the mining sector.

The success of Epiroc’s AI implementation highlights the importance of cross-functional collaboration, demonstrating AI’s transformative impact on data utilization, process automation, scalability, sustainability, innovation, and collaboration in mining operations.

Sandvik

Sandvik, an engineering company specializing in mining, rock excavation, rock drilling, rock processing, and metal cutting equipment, leverages AI to enhance sustainability in the mining industry. By utilizing Azure AI Services, Azure Machine Learning, and Azure Synapse Analytics, Sandvik optimizes operations through data analysis, predicting equipment failures, and improving maintenance schedules to make informed decisions, forecast demand, and optimize resource allocation, leading to more efficient rock processing and mining operations.

Microsoft’s AI and analytics solutions are pivotal in reducing energy consumption, minimizing waste, and lowering carbon emissions, aligning with the industry’s net-zero goals. Safety is also enhanced as AI predicts and prevents potential hazards by analyzing sensor data and alerting workers to anomalies. Sandvik’s innovative adoption of AI technologies not only boosts operational efficiency and sustainability but also positions the company as a leader in the mining sector, setting a benchmark for others to follow.

Emirates Global Aluminum

Emirates Global Aluminum (EGA) is the world’s largest premium aluminum producer and runs mining, refining, smelting, and recycling facilities. The company is a long-time user of transformative technology, including AI, to drive business growth. The company already used Microsoft Copilot, and to get even more value from AI capabilities, EGA moved a portion of its server base to the Azure platform for easier management of data-intensive operations. The company can now also leverage the power and flexibility of Azure to support safety-critical applications that use AI for tasks like detecting rod latch failures in real time. When this happens, they can respond faster and make sure production continues.  

After integrating Azure into its core operations, EGA saw AI response times that were 10 to 13 times faster, plus lower latency and 86% cost savings associated with AI image and video use cases. Now they can explore additional AI use cases such as visual AI for inspection of carbon anodes that are essential to production. They’ve even developed and trained an AI model that helps define and differentiate what makes a good anode from an undesirable one, which has helped improve the quality of aluminum. Moving forward, EGA is eager to continue embracing technology and AI innovation to enhance productivity, develop new types of alloys, and embrace sustainable practices.  

Boliden

Boliden, a Swedish multinational mining leader that produces high-quality metals, including zinc and copper, is pioneering the use of AI to foster a sustainable future in mining. By integrating Azure AI Services, Azure Machine Learning, and Azure Synapse Analytics, Boliden has revolutionized its data collection and analysis, automated processes, and enhanced visibility.

Azure’s cloud infrastructure has provided Boliden with the scalability and flexibility needed to operate efficiently, even in remote mining sites. This blend of cloud computing and mobile device usage has streamlined the deployment of systems and tools, while AI and automation have significantly reduced manual tasks, such as monitoring video streams, saving about two hours daily. AI has also bolstered Boliden’s sustainability and productivity by enabling continuous trend tracking, integrating additional data sources, and monitoring various parameters.

Explore more digital mining solutions

At Microsoft, we’re committed to doing our part in the global effort to accelerate the energy transition and believe that partnership and knowledge-sharing is what makes it all possible. With cloud and AI, mining leaders can accelerate their digital transformation to help optimize value across their entire enterprise, enabling faster progress toward business goals and a more sustainable future—and we’re here to support along the way. You can check out our additional resources to learn more about working with the Microsoft for energy and resources team.

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¹The mining industry must be ambitious in its support of the net zero transition, World Economic Forum, February 2024.

²Developing a Digital Mindset, Harvard Business Review, May to June 2022.

³Has mining lost its luster? Why talent is moving elsewhere and how to bring them back, McKinsey & Company, February 2023.