Sector Programme
    Extractives and Development
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    23.09.2021 New publication: New Tech - New Deal: Findings and new directions on the changing face of mining and new directions on the changing face of mining

    Technological innovations are fundamentally changing the face of the mining industry. Digitization, Big Data, automation, connected devices, as well as the use of renewable energies, drones, Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud-based management systems are used more frequently.

    This raises questions such as: What implications will new technologies in mining have on communities, governments and mine operators? How can mining contribute to sustainable development regionally as well as globally in the future?

    This raises questions such as: What implications will new technologies in mining have on communities, governments and mine operators? How can mining contribute to sustainable development regionally as well as globally in the future?

    The new report “New Tech, New Deal: Mining Policy Options in the Face of New Technology” by the Intergovernmental Forum on Mining, Minerals, Metals and Sustainable Development (IGF) is aiming to examining these questions. The report is the result of a two-year research project supported by the “Extractives for Development” Sector Programme on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).

    “In recent years, we've seen an acceleration of investment in disruptive technologies in the large-scale mining sector,” said Isabelle Ramdoo, the report's co-author and Deputy Director of the IGF at the digital launch of the report on September 15, 2021. “These technologies will alter the traditional relationships between mining companies, communities, and governments.” The report focuses on the impact of digitalization on supply chains, local procurement, as well as taxation and government revenues in the sector.

    Overall, it defines 4 key challenges:

    • Ensure any new jobs are largely contestable by locals (education and training)
    • Use mining to drive economic diversification outside the mining sector (innovative investment mechanisms such as impact investment)
    • Rethink taxation mechanisms to account for the new realities
    • New technologies as a solution (shared infrastructure).

    From a development perspective, the question arises: What changes does technological progress bring to resource-rich developing and emerging countries? Advancing digitalization can accelerate economic recovery in resource-rich partner countries, ensure higher efficiency and productivity, and bring transformative health and safety as well as environmental changes to the extractive sector. However, the accompanying automation of the sector also has consequences for the local labor and supplier market, including on the one hand reduced demand for labor and on the other hand increasing demands for qualifications.

    Here, tailored training programs can be the solution to improve employment opportunities for locals and also to compensate for possible inequalities between the urban and rural population. The task of German development cooperation is to prepare countries for these changes and to support them in order to ensure long-term local value creation and sustainable development. That is why the sector program “Extractives for Development” has supported the New Tech, New Deal (NTND) from the very beginning.

    The final report was launched digitally on September 15, 2021. The recording of the event as well as the presentation slides can be found here. Brief summaries of the report are available in English, French and Spanish.

    NTND_PolicyOptions

    New Tech New Deal: Mining Policy Options in the face of new technology

    PDF | 09/2021 | 1 MB, 89 Pages
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    Way Forward:
    In addition to the final report, four more detailed country studies (Burkina Faso, DRC, South Africa, and Mongolia) will be published in the coming months. The New Tech, New Deal project has also been taken up and expanded with the IGF, ILO, IWiM and UNDP regarding the issue of gender equity in the introduction of new technologies in the mining sector. “Women and the Mine of the Future” initially deals with the collection of gender-accredited data for the mining sector in order to formulate policy recommendations on how women can benefit in the best way possible from the fourth industrial revolution in the mining sector.

    For further information please reach out to Lisa Stellner.