Lundin Mining Modernizes for Sustainable Growth in the New Energy Economy

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07/31/2023 - 12:20 PM

NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / July 31, 2023 / SAP

As the world shifts to a lower carbon future, Lundin Mining is pursuing an ambitious expansion strategy, building on its own history of innovation to take a well-deserved leadership role in the new energy economy.

Electric vehicles (EVs), solar and wind power, and batteries for energy storage will need much more copper, nickel, and zinc than traditional power sources. Grid electrification also requires far more of these base materials than infrastructure of the past. Indeed S&P Global projected copper demand will nearly double over the next decade to support the technologies necessary for achieving net-zero 2050 goals. For Lundin, this is an amazing business opportunity.

"It's an exciting time for us as the world moves to renewable green energy," said Blossom Gonsalves, global head of Enterprise Solutions at Lundin Mining. "For example, copper is one of the backbones of renewable energy mandates and will power huge market demand as EVs and solar panels go mainstream and renewable energies become the norm. We are expanding our footprint with acquisitions worldwide that will help us provide new energy materials for the world's sustainable future."

Headquartered in Canada, Lundin Mining has a proven history of successful acquisitions. The company has operations and projects in Latin America, Europe, and the U.S., primarily producing copper, zinc, gold, and nickel. During a session at this year's SAP Sapphire & ASUG Annual Conference Orlando, Gonsalves talked about how Lundin was modernizing for growth and efficiency by consolidating previously siloed systems on one global foundation with SAP.

Automation Boosts Strategic Growth

After years of rapid expansion through acquisitions worldwide, Lundin began its next strategic transformation, working with SAP to standardize global processes on SAP S/4HANA.

"Moving to a single global SAP system has simplified what was a very complex landscape and lowered total cost of ownership while providing us with a single source of truth. Replacing disparate, disconnected, and often manual processes with automated systems has helped us become more strategic, streamlined, and efficient," said Gonsalves. "With real-time visibility into operations globally, we've decreased risk and improved situational awareness with greater foresight. Just as important, we've empowered the business by reducing administrative tasks, providing people with more time to focus on strategic activities that will grow operations."

Safe and Agile Business Expansion

Safety is paramount in the mining industry, and having connected data between finance, supply chain and procurement, and enterprise asset management has helped Lundin meet corporate commitments as well as regulatory mandates.

"We needed the ability to scale and manage operational risk often in remote locations with challenging environments for connectivity," Gonsalves said. "From a risk perspective, having connected data on one trusted platform can help us manage site audits smoothly. As we bring in new acquisitions, we'll be able to easily add them into our landscape as well."

Self-Paced Transformation to the Cloud

Acknowledging the change management required to transform Lundin's software landscape, Gonsalves said that the company was able to adopt SAP solutions 90% out-of-the-box with targeted customizations based on specific need areas. She advised working closely with a partner to precheck process changes and walking employees through the new system and its benefits.

"We obtained early business buy-in for the project and then introduced the changes to make sure people were used to them," she said. "We began with SAP SuccessFactors solutions in HR to accelerate the cultural transformation, and SAP Ariba was an early project that generated benefits in upstream procurement. You need to focus on adoption. If you give employees the resources to use digital tools, they'll experience and value the results."

Business Benefits Company-Wide

Lundin has gained significant benefits from consolidating corporate applications on SAP. Finance teams have standardized planning and budgeting. People across supply chain and procurement have improved sourcing compliance and spare parts planning and automated invoice matching for greater spend control. With globally standardized asset maintenance processes and data, Lundin has reduced reactive maintenance, unplanned downtime, and costs.

"We took a proactive approach with asset management and adopted best practices coming out of the SAP mining solution," said Gonsalves. "Across our supply chain, we've put partners on SAP Ariba solutions for a global view of activities throughout sites, providing us with a much better negotiating position."

Innovations Unlock Human Potential

Sustainability and innovation are baked into Lundin's strategy. The Lundin Foundation channels revenue from operations back into communities, providing financing for climate startups, community skills training and education, local supplier development, and economic diversification programs. The company is also infusing automation throughout operations. At the recently acquired Josemaria mining project located high up in the Andes Mountains of Argentina, Lundin is designing autonomous operations that will provide crews with remote control capabilities to withstand harsh environmental conditions.

While the new energy economy is upending business models everywhere, it's also turned into a sustainable business opportunity for ambitious leaders like Lundin.