Five mining industry trends in 2024
What are the key trends in mining in 2024? Personnel shortage, unmanned technologies, import substitution and other trends in the Russian mining industry.
Production at the level of previous years
The Ministry of Energy's forecast for coal production remains unchanged: about 440 million tons are planned to be mined in 2024. In this case, there will be no changes: last year, 438 million tons of coal were mined in Russia. In terms of precious metals, the dynamics may even be positive. For example, this year, Yakutia plans to mine 200 tons of silver, which is 37 tons more than the year before. Subsoil users in the Magadan Region expect to increase gold production by 12%, to 53.6 tons.
Oil production in 2024 is projected to be at the level of 505-515 million tons - this estimate was given by Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak on June 6 at the SPIEF. According to the results of last year, oil production amounted to 530.6 million tons. The implementation of the forecast will mean a slight decrease in production - by 3-5%. As for gas production, the forecast presented in September 2023 for 2024 remains valid - 666.7 billion cubic meters (636.7 billion cubic meters of gas were produced last year).
Unmanned technologies on guard of security
To protect the life and health of employees, especially those involved in drilling and blasting operations, underground mining and other hazardous work, is the main goal of using unmanned technologies. However, robotization and automation of production processes also help to increase the efficiency of processes - their accuracy and speed of execution.
"One of the most important tasks today is to bring people out from underground. This not only meets the demands of the labor market, but will also fundamentally change the cost structure of mining companies and make their production processes more efficient ," says Alexey Dushin, rector of USMU.
Leading enterprises have already started using self-propelled mining and quarry equipment: dump trucks, bulldozers, excavators, etc. Self-propelled drilling rigs are a good help in geological exploration. One of the successful examples of using unmanned technologies is the Norilsk Nickel case at the Skalisty mine. Due to restrictions on the presence of workers in the mine during drilling and blasting operations, the mine was idle for 1.5 hours daily. The use of unmanned dump trucks allowed the company to improve not only the safety of work, but also efficiency - the amount of ore transported increased by 20 thousand tons annually.
The labor shortage persists
The mining industry has been experiencing a personnel shortage for many years now. It is caused by a number of reasons – the demographic pit of the 1990s, the relatively low popularity of blue-collar jobs among young people, and the active development of industry in the regions, which creates demand that exceeds supply. This picture, for example, has developed in the Far East:
"The Far East has been actively developing over the last 5-7 years. New production facilities were launched, old enterprises were modernized. And all this led to a catastrophic shortage of talent in the region ," commented Fedor Kirsanov, CEO of Atlas Mining.
Overall, in the mining industry of Russia, according to the rector of USMU Alexey Dushin, 68 thousand positions were not filled in 2023. Of these, 70% are in the Ural, Siberian and Far Eastern Federal Districts, where less than 26% of the country's population is concentrated.
Mining companies are trying to solve the problem of personnel shortage in various ways: from improving working conditions, raising salaries and retaining personnel to creating their own training centers and industrial tourism for schoolchildren. The federal project "Professionality", designed to organize the training of personnel for industry enterprises, plays a major role in solving the problem.
More women in the mining industry
The labor shortage and the global trend towards gender equality are leading to more and more women working in the industry. Currently, according to Victoria Vasilyeva, Director of Public Relations at PJSC Polyus, women occupy 30% of mid- and senior-level positions in heavy industry. In 2023, the share of their resumes in the raw materials extraction sector increased by 10% , the press service of HeadHunter Siberia reported.
Today, women work in positions that were previously considered exclusively male. For example, the Petropavlovsk Group of Companies has a team of BelAZ drivers that consists entirely of women.
There are special projects in Russia aimed at increasing female representation in the mining industry. One of them is the Talented Woman in Modern Industry award, which has been held since 2021. It is organized by WIM Industries , the information partner of the MiningWorld Russia exhibition. This year, a record number of applications were submitted for participation in the award from 64 enterprises and 107 cities - 630 , which is 40% more than in 2023.
Import substitution continues
Back in 2022, it became obvious that it would be very problematic to continue using equipment from familiar brands (Komatsu, Caterpillar, Liebherr, etc.) in the new conditions. The closure of Western markets, and with it the cessation of supplies of equipment and components, forced us to look for new solutions. Import substitution became not just a preferred tactic, but a vital necessity.
Replacing foreign equipment with Russian equipment is one of the important trends in the mining industry. Over the past two years, domestic enterprises have significantly increased the production volumes of mining and quarry equipment, components and spare parts, and opened new directions.
In 2024, new equipment was presented at the MiningWorld Russia exhibition. For example, the Nevyansk Mining Machinery Plant presented its own high-performance fan with a low noise level. Elektrogorsk Metal Plant (ELEMET) presented a new product - a sedimentation and filtering centrifuge. Several innovative developments at once - the ERGA LuxSortika optical separator and the ERGA BSM magnetic drum separator - were presented by the ERGA company . KAMAZ held the world premiere of the new Atlant 50 quarry dump truck. TEM Partner shared a new piece of equipment that had not been produced in Russia before . Specialists brought to the exhibition an aeration unit for a large-volume flotation machine with a capacity of 630 cubic meters.
MiningWorld Russia – an exhibition that reflects the industry
In 2024, the International Exhibition of Machinery and Equipment for Mining, Processing and Transportation of Minerals MiningWorld Russia was held for the 28th time. 578 companies – industry leaders and promising enterprises – took part in it with their stands. Compared to 2023, the exhibition area has doubled – from 16 thousand sq. m to 30 thousand sq. m .
8,410 specialists visited MiningWorld Russia 2024 to get acquainted with mining equipment and market trends. Visitors came from 75 regions of the Russian Federation and 32 countries. Every year, MiningWorld Russia reflects the state of the mining equipment market - the exhibition presents new products and the best solutions for the extraction, enrichment and transportation of minerals.
