Zero Emissions Mining Goes Electric and GE Becomes Three

Mining is both an essential human activity, and a surprising contributor to global CO2 emissions, at 4 to 7 percent of global production. Caterpillar is working with Canadian mining firm Nouveau Monde Graphite to create a fully carbon neutral mine using electric vehicle technology. Access to zero carbon hydroelectric power at the miner’s Québec site is a major enabler, and other firms are working to help the industry transition from diesel technology.

Iconic engineering firm General Electric has announced that the 129-year-old company will split itself into three separate corporations, one each serving the healthcare, energy and aviation industries. This move follows years of divestment from GE’s formerly very wide portfolio of divisions, including the entertainment industry, nuclear weapons technology, finance, computing, automation and plastics. The three remaining industries are all in profitable sectors and are all engineering related.

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Segment 1: With major nations worldwide now planning to end fossil fuel use by 2050, we see an explosion in electrification of passenger cars, trucks and now even airplanes. But those industries aren’t the only ones powered by fossil fuel. The mining industry are major users of diesel-powered equipment, and coincidentally demand for critical minerals like lithium and graphite for the expected increase in global battery demand means a lot more equipment in the field. 

Mining appears to be following the electrification trend, as Canadian graphite miner Nouveau Monde Graphite Inc. and Peoria Illinois-based Caterpillar have inked a deal for Caterpillar to develop, test and produce Cat zero-emission machines for Nouveau Monde’s Matawinie graphite mine in Québec. Both companies expect that Caterpillar will be the exclusive supplier of an all-electric mining fleet for the graphite operation by 2028. 

Nouveau Monde’s Québec mining operation enjoys unique advantage in the switch from fossil fuel mining equipment: access to low cost, readily available hydroelectric power close by. Globally, mining is surprisingly CO₂ intensive, generating from 4 to 7% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Of course, engines are only one source of emissions in mining, and global mining engineering services provider FLSmidth has launched a program called Mission Zero with the goal of eliminating CO₂ emissions entirely from mining operations. 

The company has developed process workflows  for all aspects of mining operations including ore refining and tailings management with a very ambitious goal of creating truly carbon free mining and cement making by 2030. Will there be enough batteries and enough readily available electricity to make CO2 free mining viable around the world? That remains to be seen, but with emerging micro reactor technology generating power in shipping container-sized modules, charging the batteries in those giant earthmovers might be possible anywhere in the future. 

Segment 2: When it comes to iconic engineering companies, they don’t get any bigger or more storied than General Electric. Founded in 1892, the company can trace its history back to Thomas Edison, and was once so ubiquitous that GE manufactured products from light bulbs to kitchen appliances to fuse panels were found in almost every American home. Later the company expanded to include multiple non-engineering businesses, such as financial services.

In a historic announcement last week, the company announced that it will split itself into three new companies. The company’s healthcare division will be spun off as a GE Healthcare, while GE Renewable Energy, GE Power and GE Digital will be combined into an energy business, and also spun off, leaving the core General Electric focused on aviation. It’s a dramatic shift for the company which at one time had divisions involved in everything from the entertainment industry with NBC Universal, nuclear weapons manufacturing, household appliance production, computing, oilfield equipment, industrial automation insurance and banking. 

Efforts to reduce diversification at General Electric and bring the company back to its core engineering focus have been going on for decades, with notable operations like GE Plastics and the company’s locomotive business as major divestments. Similarly, majority ownership of oilfield equipment manufacturer Baker Hughes was reversed and GE Appliances was sold to Chinese maker Haier. The original Edison derived innovation, electric lamps, eventually became GE Lighting and that business was sold to Savant Systems in 2020.  GE divestitures over the last 20 years of included both low-margin highly competitive consumer goods manufacturing like appliances, and specialized suppliers of technology to mature industries like railroads and oil and gas drilling. 

With a wide product portfolio, why has GE chosen healthcare, energy and aviation? While the company naturally cites shareholder value, the three markets have relatively little technology crossover. From a profitability standpoint however, healthcare is a proven winner, GE’s expertise in gas turbine engines for aircraft gives the company considerable, almost oligopoly power in new generation large turbofans for airliners, and energy should be ideally placed to capitalize on the shift from fossil fuels. Will three GE’s be better than one? Time will tell.