“What Would It Take?” Exploring Mill Operators' Roles in Sustainable Energy Solutions
As the mining industry navigates the complexities of energy transition, the need for innovative thinking and practical solutions has never been more critical.
This October, Katherin Domansky, a passionate commercial leader in Energy Transition, will take the stage at AusIMM’s Mill Operators Conference in Perth to shed light on the vital role mill operators will play in achieving net-zero emissions.
With extensive experience in senior roles at Shell, BHP, and Woodside, Katherin understands the practical challenges faced by companies during the energy transition. Currently a director at Synergy and a board member of the Curtin Institute of Energy Transition, she is well-positioned to share her knowledge on this vital topic.
In her upcoming keynote address on Day One of the conference, Katherin will discuss what the energy transition means for mill operators. She highlights that mill operations are energy intensive, taking up over 40% of the energy used by the Australian mining industry. To give a sense of scale, she notes, “The mining sector utilises approximately 10% of Australia’s total energy production, and that number is rising—6% annually. That’s big! With diesel, gas, and grid electricity featuring heavily, that’s a significant contribution to emissions.”
As the mining sector sets ambitious carbon targets, Katherin highlights the pivotal role that mill operators can play in meeting these objectives. She emphasises, “Most if not all mining companies have carbon targets, and head office will be looking to operators to help meet those targets. In day-to-day mill operations, baseload power will be replaced over time with renewable energy and low-carbon energy. The generation profiles of the lowest cost options, wind and solar, are quite different from the steady-state power that mills currently rely on.”
Katherin’s insights are set to ignite critical discussions on how mill operations can adapt to the energy transition. She poses crucial questions that every operator should consider: “Are there ways to configure and run mills so that energy demand is reduced or the costs optimised? What scope is there to mobilise the upfront capital needed for new energy power generation?” As she highlights, new energy projects will need to be developed across the value chain—from generation to storage and transmission—often in remote areas. “This brings its own set of challenges, including supply chain issues, access to skilled labour, and the impact on local communities,” she explains.
Moreover, Katherin will explore the potential of leveraging existing regional infrastructure to create larger, more connected, and more stable energy systems, even when assets are owned by different entities. “What would it take to do that?” she asks, inviting stakeholders to consider innovative solutions.
Katherin’s keynote will also explore findings from the Net Zero Australia project, which aimed to answer the pivotal question of what it would take for Australia to achieve net zero. “The study created a platform for a conversation about the broader impacts of the energy transition, prompting stakeholders like the mining industry to consider what getting to net zero means for them. The really exciting feature of the study was that we took the results and put them on a map. It won’t be a surprise that the northern sunbelt across Western Australia and Northern Territory has some of the best renewable energy resources, but these are in very remote locations in Australia,” she explains.
Katherin will provide a deeper understanding of what these findings mean in practice for mill operators at the conference. She notes, “Mill operators know the challenges of building and maintaining large infrastructure in those regions, especially when it comes to accessing reliable energy sources and managing the community impacts that arise”.
Join us for Katherin Domansky's keynote address on Day 1 of the AusIMM Mill Operators Conference from 21-23 October in Perth. This is an unmissable opportunity to gain critical insights into the energy transition and engage in meaningful discussions about the future of mill operations.