R&amp;D prospects in the mining and metals industry

Filippou, Dimitrios; King, Michael G.

doi:10.1016/j.resourpol.2011.04.001

Cited by 28 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…1. Large time scale for development and extremely high costs First, the industry has a reputation of not committing sufficient time and resources for the research needed to bring a new technology to the market due to the extremely large time scale and costs (Filippou and King 2011). For instance, there have been very few iron smelting technologies (a form of extractive process) which have been commercialized.…”

Section: Innovation Drivers Trends and Stakeholdersmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The industry's tendency to move away from high-risk enterprises (i.e., exploration, and taking new mining technologies to the market) responds, to a considerable extent, to the procyclicality of the industry and the pressure to maintain profitable margins. In recent years, the low profitability in this industry has been caused by the long-run price decline in commodities which in turn has been attributed to the downward price-cost spiral, i.e., cost reduction measures during low price times and the industry's inability to raise prices back (Filippou and King 2011). This price-cost spiral has become even more difficult to counterweight as the industry is now relentlessly focused on delivering shortterm performance 7 , which severely undermines corporate investment and deters growth.…”

Section: Reduced Profitabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Innovation in mining: what are the challenges and opportunities along the value chain for Latin American suppliers?

Olvera

2021

Miner Econ

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The mining industry, considered a traditional and conservative industry with respect to innovation, finds itself at a turning point due to the increasingly complex challenges, such as declining ore grades. These challenges have created an imperative to innovate. Parallel to the above, several digital innovations are being implemented in many mining operations across the globe. Not only do these provide solutions to the existing problems but also radically transform mining processes, increasing efficiency, profitability, and the ability to comply with stricter regulations. The incorporation of mature and incipient technologies into the mining industry has opened up many opportunities for long-established firms as well as knowledge-based start-ups. This includes potential suppliers in countries where mining accounts for a significant share of the GDP but the development of productive linkages remains suboptimal, as in Latin American countries. While in recent years, some suppliers in Latin America have made important contributions to increasing innovation in the mining industry, most suppliers in the region have not been able to do so. This paper provides an overview of the innovation paradigm of the mining sector from a global perspective, i.e., how innovation processes take place in countries with a long-established technological leadership in the mining sector, such as Australia and Canada. Given the importance of suppliers in this process, a special attention is paid to innovation in various stages of the supply chain. This is in order to provide a departure point for identifying windows of opportunity for equipment and service suppliers in Latin America.

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Section: Innovation Drivers Trends and Stakeholdersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Reduced Profitabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Innovation in mining: what are the challenges and opportunities along the value chain for Latin American suppliers?

Olvera

2021

Miner Econ

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“…Role of vendors and outside agencies Mining industry, being a capital and technology intensive sector, draws on the research and development efforts of its equipment suppliers who use their heavy engineering skills and capital (Bartos 2007;Filippou and King 2011). Until 1997, the large mining-equipment-manufacturing firms were mostly based in technologically advanced nations such as the United States, Europe and Japan.…”

Section: Significant Contributors To the Technological Changesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Though the project failures are sometimes attributed to low metal prices due to competition from developing countries and high operating costs, hasty use of new technology without testing it at the required scale is also a significant factor (Nice 2004;King 2005). These experiences have prompted many mining firms to stay away from large capital investments with highrisk innovations (Filippou and King 2011).…”

Section: Significant Contributors To the Technological Changesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Depletion, technology, and productivity growth in the metallic minerals industry

Mitra

2018

Miner Econ

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Technological advancements dictate the productivity growth in all industries, including extractive ones. In the peculiar case of metallic mineral industries, this growth is also impacted by the natural variation in the metal content and chemical composition of the ore input, in the course of cumulative extraction and depletion of resources. Through a disaggregated treatment of productivity data achieved by using the input-output data on subprocesses of copper production and correlating them with input characteristics (ore grade), this study identifies and evaluates the impacts of the periodic changes in the natural input, as well as those of the technological progress, while reasonably controlling the influence of the other unrelated factors. This provides an objective assessment of the manner and extent of mitigation of the impact of the depletion-driven changes in the natural inputs of the said industry, through technological advancements. It reveals that the continuous and incremental developments in technology, successfully offset the detrimental effects of depletion on the copper sector productivity, often aided by the geological characteristics that changed to the miners' advantage. However, the impact of depletion stands to outweigh the gains from innovative technologies, as soon as the ores breach a minimum threshold level of purity or chemistry. This study thus establishes the usefulness of productivity studies in estimating the impacts of depletion that may not proceed in strictly sequential and uni-directional manner. More importantly, it shows that the impacts are neither uniform nor linear and are not always detrimental to productivity growth. Though the study is primarily based on copper industry, the findings hold relevance for other metal industries too.

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“…Successful process innovation can strengthen competitive advantage and sustainability through increased production volume, lower life-cycle costs, reduced environmental impacts, and improved production efficiency (Pisano 1996;Milewski et al 2015;Schuman and Brent 2005). On the other hand, process innovation initiatives can be perilous for the financial soundness of firms since process innovation projects are often large, costly and plagued by budget overruns, delays, and quality problems that may cause significant disruption of the production process and possibly result in plant down time (Filippou and King 2011;Lager 2012;Rönnberg Sjödin et al 2016). In the current era, the challenges as well as the opportunities continue to multiply as the wave of process innovation, flowing from the application of novel digital technologies (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Knowledge processing and ecosystem co-creation for process innovation: Managing joint knowledge processing in process innovation projects

Sjödin

2018

Int Entrep Manag J

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Process innovation drives industrial competitiveness and sustainability but remains elusive since it requires co-creation and the sharing of idiosyncratic design knowledge in ecosystems of providers and customers of process equipment. This paper investigates how firms can manage knowledge processing through cocreation in joint process innovation projects. Analysis of cross-comparative case studies-including nine industrial ecosystem actorsidentifies three types of technological challenge (complexity, novelty and customization) that creates knowledge-processing requirements (uncertainty, equivocality) during the value co-creation process. To manage these knowledge-processing requirements, this paper explains how three joint knowledge-processing strategies (joint problem solving, open communication and end-user involvement) help ecosystem partners make sense of the requirements and demands in process innovation. In this context, the procurement approach (such as contracting and relationship development) helps to facilitate higher levels of joint knowledge processing, drawing on the diverse knowledge of ecosystem actors to secure successful processinnovation outcomes. The present study contributes to the emerging literature on co-creation in process innovation by developing a framework that highlights the knowledge-processing dynamics in ecosystem relationships for process innovation. The implications for management extends to a practical tool that guides project managers in ensuring appropriate levels of joint knowledge processing among ecosystem actors.

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R&D prospects in the mining and metals industry

Cited by 28 publications

References 22 publications

Innovation in mining: what are the challenges and opportunities along the value chain for Latin American suppliers?

Innovation in mining: what are the challenges and opportunities along the value chain for Latin American suppliers?

Depletion, technology, and productivity growth in the metallic minerals industry

Knowledge processing and ecosystem co-creation for process innovation: Managing joint knowledge processing in process innovation projects

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