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Decarbonisation fight gold’s corner. Each company has already laid out its green
credentials, committing to net zero greenhouse gas emissions by
2050, with a preliminary target of reducing emissions by at least
30% by 2030.
Tonkin said the “green” thematic was in line with the long-stated
requirements for the industry to undertake “responsible” mining.
f Beament is just beginning his “We identify and know what we need to do to meet 2050 net zero
IDamascene conversion to clean energy greenhouse gas emissions and a lot of that is in our power gen-
eration,” Tonkin said. “For any mineral or commodity to be badged
metals, others on the Diggers stage are green, to try to differentiate themselves for a different sales price,
already well down the road. I think they’ve just got to come back to what is your core business
and how can you do it as responsibly as you can.
“We have a head start because we work in Tier-1 jurisdictions.”
and it’s already a significant standard accepted in the regions
rior to Beament’s presentation, IGO Ltd managing director Pe- that we operate. So,
Pter Bradford gave his own Ted Talk-style address, telling del- Klein (pictured below), beaming in via a livestream for the second
egates the company had tied itself completely to the clean energy year running, marvelled at how markets had shrugged off the on-
revolution, in both the metals it produces and the way it mines them. going impact of the pandemic in favour of growth stocks, with gold
IGO has put its money where its mouth is, divesting its 30% inter- suffering in the process.
est in the Tropicana gold JV and reinvesting the $904 million pro- “Stock markets and property prices are at record levels, new, so-
ceeds in the acquisition of 25% of the Greenbushes lithium mine called, green metals are the rage and companies with assets in
and 49% of the associated Kwinana lithium hydroxide project. these commodities are being priced a lot like internet companies,
The company has taken its approach to decarbonisation further all about their potential and their future earnings. It all seems almost
than most. Bradford explained the company had adopted an inter- too good to be true, and maybe it is,” he said.
nal carbon price which generates funding for Scope 1 and 2 emis- Klein put some of the reduced enthusiasm down to a lack of face-
sions abatement. to-face meetings with international fund managers but said there
“We have also begun to understand our Scope 3, downstream, was near-term opportunity for investors to circle back to the world’s
emissions and create different and better outcomes there,” he said. oldest store of wealth.
According to Bradford, the opportunity for mining is not just to “You can’t print and borrow the amounts they [governments] are
lessen its own environmental impact but catalyse the world’s de- at the moment without there being a devaluation of currencies,”
carbonisation push. he said. “I think that’s the ultimate role that gold has played as the
“It is our belief in the green energy future and our belief that we storer of value that you can’t print and that’s what it’s role is going
can make a contribution to a better planet and that we can make a to be going forward as you see the impact of these monetary and
contribution to reversing some of the challenges of climate change fiscal programmes, which I daresay are probably necessary at the
by producing those metals that create clean energy,” he said. moment, but at some point in time someone is going to have to pay
Lithium joins nickel, copper and cobalt in the IGO metals basket, for this.”
but the investment in Tianqi Lithium Ltd’s Kwinana lithium hydrox- Asked if gold needed a champion to push its investment case,
ide facility gives insight into the wider ambitions of many miners to as the likes of Elon Musk has done for the suite of battery minerals
become vertically integrated. which power his Teslas, Klein offered this blunt response.
“Our strategy is to be a globally relevant supplier of clean en- “I want Elon Musk to tweet about gold and stop tweeting about
ergy metal products made safely ethically sustainable and reliably bitcoin and all these other things.”
customer-focused,” he said. “We produce nickel and copper Evolution recently acquired Northern Star’s Kundana and
metals which represent 55% of the metals that go into 51%-owned East Kundana JV for $400 million in a
a lithium-ion battery. To my knowledge we are strategic move which all but shores up the future
the only company that is a one-stop shop for of its Mungari operations.
vehicle battery metals.” High-grade feed from the Kundana
Bradford was far from the lone bat- ground – which sits adjacent to Mungari
tery minerals champion to take to – will now be fed through the nearby
the Diggers stage with the likes of plant instead of being trucked to
Lynas Rare Earths Ltd, Hastings Northern Star’s Kanowna Belle
Technology Metals Ltd, Pilbara operation on the other side of
Minerals Ltd and Liontown Re- Kalgoorlie.
sources Ltd all touting their clean Klein said now was the time for
energy metals credentials. Even the gold sector to look at further
traditional Diggers fare such as consolidation of assets.
nickel and copper stories were “It’s probably a better time
dominated by references to Elon for the gold sector to be doing
Musk, EVs and the energy and meaningful consolidation this time
transportation revolution. around rather than in distress,
Having seen their predecessor which is kind of what happened the
and former adversary seemingly last time around,” he said.
walk away from the precious metal,
newly appointed Northern Star managing
director Stuart Tonkin and Evolution Mining
Ltd executive chairman Jake Klein were left to

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