Original subtitles

[narrator] On Tomorrow's World Today ,

we explore the cutting-edge advances

that are shaping four different worlds.

The world of inspiration, where the wonders of

the natural world amaze and inspire us.

The world of creation, where ideas come to life

from traditional arts.

The world of innovation,

where ideas and inventions move us all forward.

The world of production,

where innovations are mass-produced

to improve our lives.

From Inventionland World Headquarters,

here's your host, George Davison.

Hi, everybody, I'm George Davison.

And in our last episode, we began to explore

sustainable copper mining.

You see, copper is the linchpin

of our energy transition,

powering renewable technologies

and electrifying transportation.

With over 65% of its global usage dedicated to electricity,

its role is pivotal.

So let's go rejoin field reporter Greg,

who's in the world of production in Arizona

to further explore how copper's at the forefront

of our quest for a greener, more sustainable tomorrow.

Copper plays an incredibly important role

in our transition away from fossil fuels.

It's a great conductor of electricity, which makes it

an amazing partner for solar panels and wind turbines

and other versions of renewable energy,

and that's why we're here at Freeport-McMoRan in Arizona.

I'm going to meet with Cory Stevens and learn why copper

is a conductor of change.

Cory, why is copper such an essential part

of the clean energy transition?

Yeah, so copper has a lot of unique attributes,

but first and foremost is its ability

to transmit electricity.

It's a highly-efficient conductor.

It's got great thermal conductivity characteristics.

The electrical application accounts for 65% of the use

for all copper on an annual basis.

So I know that there are other conductive metals

that we could use, gold, silver, or aluminum,

but they don't have the longevity that copper has.

So copper has a super long life cycle.

For example, if you took all the copper that was mined

from the early 1900s today, and looked at that

in a combined state, about two-thirds of that's still in

productive use today. -That's amazing.

So a house that was wired up and built, maybe, say,

in the early 1900s, could essentially have

the same wiring in it today and still be in use.

Yeah, exactly.

You know, Cory, everybody is talking about EVs these days.

Tell me about copper's role

in the electrification of transportation.

Yeah, so copper is a key enabler in allowing this

technology to function.

All the major components of an EV,

whether it's the battery, the inverter, the wheel motors

and the wiring that connects all those major components,

that's what makes this technology come alive.

The copper intensity of an EV is about three to four times

what you would normally see in an internal combustion engine.

Then you have the charging infrastructure and you can see

from the cabling here, this is packed dense with copper,

and it really leverages that conductivity that we were

talking about before,

and then within this housing,

there's additional copper features

that allow it to connect to the grid

and supply that energy to the vehicle.

And then the grid itself is another part of that copper

intensity because the copper is used to transfer that power

to the charger and then from the charger to the vehicle.

Right, and so with the grid,

the way that the energy makeup is today,

EVs are 50% more efficient than an internal combustion

engine on a carbon basis.

As the grid continues to decarbonize through renewables

and otherwise, right, that's only going to make EVs

that much cleaner as time goes on.

Right. So as time goes on, too, one of the things

that we have to consider

is that as much as we would like to believe

that our vehicles will last forever,

we know that they will not.

So when this vehicle has outlived its usefulness,

it's got a lot of copper in it.

What's going to happen to all that copper?

Alright, so that's the beauty, is that copper

is infinitely recyclable, right?

And so as you get to the end of a life cycle for your EV

or other equipment, you can take that copper out

and reprocess it, and then it can go into

a number of different other applications.

That's great.

Well, I know another really intensive copper application

is in the creation of data centers and server farms

and cloud creation.

So I'm going to head down, I'm going to talk to Kevin

from Encore Wire and find out more about that.

-Thanks, Cory. -Great.

Kevin, I was just talking with Cory

about data centers and how incredibly important they are,

and they are important, but they can't operate

without what you do.

Tell me about your company.

That's correct.

We're Encore Wire in McKinney, Texas,

and we make building wire,

and we use copper to make that building wire,

and copper is what supplies the power to data centers,

and I don't know that people really know the impact that

data centers have on our daily lives, but from the time

we wake up in the morning until we go to sleep,

we are constantly engaged with a data center in some way.

It's an incredible new phenomenon, I think that we've

even seen over the pandemic where people have

remote learning and those types of things, social media,

it affects everything in our daily lives.

Okay, well, tell me a little bit about the infrastructure

within that data center and how your company

deals with that.

So we make the cables that bring the power

into the building and then throughout the building.

So it's basically a giant building with computers

all over it,

and those computers work 24/7, and they've got to be

powered in an adequate way. and that's what we do.

We supply all the wires and cables that go

and power the data centers.

What are some of the biggest challenges then

that your industry faces? -Supply chain is huge.

We saw the issues that went on through the pandemic and those

who couldn't get their supply of whatever it was

that they make, they couldn't serve their customers,

and so Freeport-McMoRan has allowed us to grow incredibly

during the pandemic and now the agreements that we've got

with them and the friendship that we have with them

really allowed us to do what we do, which is deliver wire faster

and more complete than anybody else in our industry.

Okay, well let's talk a little bit about that.

Sustainability and making sure that things are responsibly

produced has become important across all industries.

How has that affected what you do?

It really has, and we all know the world is becoming greener.

Everybody's trying to do what they can to make the world

a better place to live, and sustainably-sourced copper

in our case is an incredibly important thing, not only to us,

but to the people that we sell it to.

So again, with that partnership with Freeport-McMoRan

and our partnership with the Copper Mark,

which basically is a stamp that says this

is responsibly sourced,

those types of things are allowing us to be able to get

bigger and bigger jobs and expand our market share.

Excellent. Kevin, thank you very much.

Thank you, Greg.

[Greg] In the rapidly evolving landscape of tomorrow's world,

copper is essential

for the infrastructure of the future,

powering our renewable energy grids,

enabling the electrification of transportation,

and facilitating the growth of

a digital and interconnected world.

I'm at the Freeport-McMoRan Tech Center to explore how

copper is a cornerstone of progress and sustainability.

You know, Bert, when most people think of AI,

they probably don't think of copper right off the bat,

but here we are.

Here's another example of copper being a vital yet

invisible part of a new technology that is becoming

more and more important to us every day.

So tell me a little bit about copper's role in enabling

connectivity and communication between AI servers

and storage systems.

First and foremost, AI has an insatiable demand

for processing and for data.

To be able to produce the amount of processing

required that modern AI algorithms ask for to solve

these hugely complex problems, we have networks and networks

of these servers in parallel and data centers

running in parallel.

And all of those are interconnected, powered by

copper, cooled by copper.

Without copper, AI really doesn't exist today.

Is the conductivity of copper itself, is that an important

part of how this is working and why copper

is such a vital part of it?

Copper is the most efficient mechanism to drive that power

and that cooling.

Okay, well, as we look at AI and big data and look at how

those jobs are exploding in the new information revolution

out in the world, you're actually powering

your own revolution within the mining industry.

It's not just the programmers back in the data centers

or in computing labs, but it's people in the field

who are responsible for cabling sensors,

configuring sensors, talking into networks.

We have wires running through all of these mine sites that

are cabled, that process the data and send it back to

these cloud platforms which actually produce the AI.

We have data analysts and data engineers who craft the data

and structure the data to where it's reliable,

it's cleansed,

and our data scientists actually work with

our operations teams to develop insights from the data

iteratively to learn more and more about what's going on

inside our business.

It really has given us foundational new insights on

how we process and how we operate.

None of that really matters if you don't have the folks

in the field, if their teams are not being able to use that data

in order to be safer, more efficient,

and more productive out in the field.

Tell me a little bit about how that works.

So a big part of our focus when we work with the teams

in the field are to stay focused on, what are the problems

they're trying to solve?

What are the problems that we haven't historically been

able to solve as an industry?

We work with the folks in the field who are at

the front line, at the face of the problem, who can describe

what's actually going on, and who, if we provide

the right insights and the right tools, can actually

change what's actually happening in the field,

which is what, in the end, is required for AI

to really have an impact for our business.

Excellent. Bert, thank you very much.

Thank you.

So Josh, as we talked about big data and AI and all

of these technological advances that have happened

over the last 50 years in the mining industry,

it really has changed the face of mining, but the actual face

of mining is changing too.

As we walk through your facility, I see a lot of women

in working positions.

[Josh] Yeah, it's interesting.

Historically, we've always had women in mining, but it was

more in the administrative areas of the business.

We recognize it was an opportunity to incorporate

them in different parts, and it's been really,

really successful over time.

Speaking of successful, I'd like to introduce

you to Sonia, a longtime Freeport employee

who's in our Electrical Apprenticeship Program.

-Hi, Sonia. -Hi.

-Nice to meet you. -Nice to meet you.

Well, Sonia, tell me about what you've been working on.

I was working on the motor.

So we do a preventive maintenance service on it.

We pull off the cover, check the brushes, make sure

that they have even wear, and blow out as much dust

as we can from the compartment.

Okay. Well, Josh says you're a longtime employee.

How long have you been with Freeport?

I am second generation.

I have been with the company for 27 years.

Wow, that's excellent.

But now you're in the apprentice program.

What would make you want to make that change

after all that time?

It was a good opportunity for me.

Here in this industry or in mining, Freeport does offer

a lot of different trades.

It's like a world of opportunity.

Excellent, so when you're done with your apprentice program,

what will your title be?

I'll be a journeyman electrician.

You're a second generation miner,

so I'm sure your family's really proud.

Yes, yes, they are very proud.

Great, well, we're gonna let you get back to work.

-Thank you very much. -Okay, thank you.

Josh, let's get out of here.

[Greg] Trades in the copper industry encompass

a range of essential skills, from mining and extraction

to refining and fabrication.

These skilled professionals play a major role

in every stage of the mining process.

I'm at Freeport-McMoRan Sierrita Operations

with Andrea Vaccari

to explore how careers in copper mining

are another way that copper is shaping tomorrow's world.

Andrea, one of the most exciting things that I have

learned in my time here at Freeport-McMoRan is how many

different kinds of jobs and opportunities are available.

It's really kind of staggering.

There really are.

If you want to be an environmental scientist

like me, if you want to work in big data and AI, if you're

a trades person, if you want to be a mining engineer, right?

We have just a whole plethora of jobs here at Freeport.

Our workforce is 74,000 people strong.

And you can feel good about working for us, right?

We are helping the energy transition, but we're also

working really hard to reduce our impact over time.

So let's talk a little bit more about that.

What is Freeport-McMoRan doing to reduce those carbon

emissions, become more eco-friendly?

About three or four years ago, we started to work on

our global climate strategy, really looking at this

aspiration to be net zero emissions by 2050.

How do we get there?

So the first stage of that really was to start

to set targets.

So how are we going to reduce the amount

of emissions we produce?

We've done that now.

We now have four targets that cover 100% of our emissions

globally, which is just amazing.

It's something we're really proud of.

Now, a part of that whole process was to say, what do

we need to do to get there?

So one of the first things we started focusing

on was renewables.

Down at our Cerro Verde mine in Peru we actually just

signed a power purchase agreement that along with

our other agreements will enable the operation by 2026

to be completely fueled by renewable energy,

and that's huge. That's a big accomplishment.

It's one of the largest copper mines in the world.

The other thing that we're working on is integrating more

and more renewables here in the United States.

We also have a huge mine in Indonesia.

It's in the Central Papuan province, which is on

the island of New Guinea.

It is 3% of the world's copper.

There's nothing small about this mine.

We actually utilize coal power there.

We have for many, many years due to the need for

reliability, consistency of supply, right?

You have almost 28,000 people working there.

You need a huge amount of energy on an ongoing basis,

but we recognize we can't keep doing that forever,

and we set a target, right, to reduce our emissions there.

So what we've done is two projects in the last few years.

The first one is our dual-fueled power plant.

Dual-fueled power plants can take two different kinds

of fuel, biodiesel and natural gas.

Currently, we've just commissioned the plant

and it's been commissioned on biodiesel.

The opportunity, though, to bring in natural gas led us

to start investigating, could we actually replace

the coal with natural gas?

So we're actually in the midst of finishing up a feasibility

study on bringing liquefied natural gas to the site to

replace that entire set of coal generation, which would

really be remarkable and would really enable us for that 3%

of the world's copper be much lower carbon intensity.

Well, I mean, that's really important because as you look

at transferring to renewable energies,

more eco-friendly ways of doing that,

it's important that the process

by which you get those ores out of the ground

isn't creating more emissions than you're trying to mitigate.

So tell me about some things that Freeport-McMoRan is doing

across the entire industry to reduce those emissions.

Typically in the industry globally, when you're dealing

with what we call a sulfide-bearing ore,

you mine it, concentrate it, smelt it, and then refine it,

and the concentration and smelting steps are

massively impactful, they use a lot of energy.

So what we've been working on for many, many years is with

other types of ores, so non-sulfide bearing ores,

we do something called solvent extraction and electrowinning.

That enables us to completely eliminate the concentration

step and the smelting step, which really enables a much

lower carbon footprint for all.

So what we're trying to do now is crack that nut

of sulfide-bearing or leaching,

and that really I think is something

that could transform the industry because it could

really reduce the environmental impact,

not only from a carbon perspective,

but from an overall perspective.

That's amazing,

so you're basically going to be able to get twice as much

copper out of the same chunk of land that you're

mining on? -[Andrea] Absolutely.

[Greg] When we explore the future of mining,

experts need to focus on tackling emissions

and transforming how haul trucks are operated.

By transitioning towards

electrification and autonomous technology,

mines can enhance efficiency, safety,

and sustainability, which all play a huge factor in how

the mining industry will evolve.

Tell me about something that you feel might be coming in

the near future that could maybe

transform the industry even further.

You know, one of the biggest sources of emissions that

we have is our haul trucks and our mines.

So if you imagine a big, open-pit mine, you've got all

those big, huge haul trucks moving ore or overburden

around every day, all the time.

So that's a big use of diesel and a significant source

of carbon emissions.

So one of the things we've been working on is how do

we move towards electrification or some other

solution for those haul trucks.

One big project that we're working on now is to transform

our Bagdad operations, which is an open pit mine

here in Arizona, to autonomous technology.

So what does that mean?

That means those trucks will not have a person

in them anymore. They'll be driven remotely.

So what does that do?

Well, it not only increases efficiency because of the way

we're able to run them and manage them,

it also improves the health and safety impact,

it reduces the risk significantly because you no

longer have a human inside driving and maybe that human

is now inside a room working that technology.

[Greg] That's really important to think about it,

because if your goal is to work towards

energy-renewable sources of energy,

eco-friendly sources to get that copper out of the ground,

it's pretty important that you lower your emissions

while you do it.

It's something that the whole industry is working together on.

We have something called

the International Council for Metals and Mining,

where the leading copper producers

and other minerals in the world get together

and we really look at how can we do this together.

There is nothing that can be done without collaboration

that is large scale in the mining industry right now,

and so we really call it the era of collaboration.

At Freeport, we're very, very proud to be helping

lead the way on that,

and we're really, really hoping to accelerate

the future in a very responsible way,

really reducing the impact of all those extra tons

that we have to produce.

[Greg] Andrea, this has been amazing.

Thank you so much, but I've got to get

back to Inventionland. Would you show me out?

Absolutely.

Thanks for visiting us here at Freeport-McMoRan, Greg.

Hey, Kathleen. Welcome to Inventionland.

Hey, George. Thank you.

Thanks. It's great to be here.

I'm so glad you're here.

I was hearing all this good news about technology you guys

are working on and then somebody sent me this picture.

It's very intriguing, but I don't really know what

it's all about.

You know, we're big copper producers.

Yes.

Copper is essential for the energy transition,

and as we look forward, we need more and more copper,

and so what our team has been doing is we are using new

technologies, new tools that we have that we've never had

before, and looking to see if we can extract more copper

from what was previously thought to be waste,

and we're having great success with it.

Well, you must have a heck of a team if you have figured out

a new way to get copper out of old stockpiles.

Our team is very innovative.

We look for ways to get as much copper as we can out of

the resources we have sustainably and responsibly

because it's so important.

I like hearing that, and I'm -- you know,

but we are here at Tomorrow's World Today ,

so how about

we chat a little about the future, too?

Well, the future's bright with copper.

The more copper that we produce,

the more it's gonna help this energy transition to make for

a cleaner, more sustainable, more connected world,

and it's a world we all want to be in.

Kathleen, I can't thank you enough for coming in here

and explaining that to me.

Thanks so much.

[George] And remember,

tomorrow's world is where inspiration and creation

drive innovation and production.

See you next time.