Weir Group Jon Stanton Presentation at CRU’s World Copper Conference 2021

Thank you very much for the opportunity to be here. I hope next year we can all be together, but for the moment I hope you're all keeping safe and well. Today I'm going to talk about how we make mining more sustainable, with a particular emphasis on some of the biggest challenges our industry faces: from achieving net zero emissions to increasing water efficiency. But alongside setting out the challenges we all face, I also want to talk about how we solve them through partnership and innovative engineering, and our focus on practical steps our industry can take today, as well as how we think about the future. But first, let me tell you a little bit about Weir, which as you'll see is celebrating its 150th anniversary. We were founded in 1871 by two engineers, James and George Weir, who liked to see things differently and had an unrelenting passion for innovation. Like all engineers, they were problem solvers, from making steamships more efficient to inventing the first commercial desalination plants. Now, while the business the Weir brothers founded has changed significantly in the last century and a half, our passion for solving big challenges through innovative engineering has never been greater or more relevant. Today, as you can see, Weir is a truly decentralized global business, with 11,000 colleagues operating in more than 60 countries, working hand in hand with miners in every major mining region of the world. We're proud to say the majority of the world's copper is processed using Weir technologies, that include brands that are trusted by generations of miners, including ESCO ground engaging tools, Enduron, HPGRs, Warman slurry pumps, Cavex cyclones, and GIW fluid and tailings solutions. Weir has always focused on leading the technology change in our markets, with innovations that help customers and communities, supporting our industry's license to operate. And as others have said, the prospects for copper markets are extremely strong. But so too is the pressure to produce essential resources differently. That requires partnership across the industry, but particularly between miners and technology providers like Weir, whose job is to take a problem and create the solution. And one of the key lessons we've learned over the last 150 years at Weir is that partnership is extremely powerful in unlocking value. One of the great benefits of our deep customer relationships and process knowledge is the insight this gives us on some of the biggest challenges and opportunities our industry faces. So let's begin with some of the most pressing priorities, and these will be familiar to everyone in this discussion. We all want to produce more using less, because that makes economic, social, and environmental sense. At Weir, we've distilled the industry's key challenges into three main priorities, where we're focusing our R&D and technology development, all reflecting customer feedback. Firstly, we're making mining operations smarter through more sensing, automation, and performance insights, a trend that we know has been accelerated by COVID. Secondly, we're making mining operations more efficient through better wear life, throughput, and reduced downtime, so that we maximize recoveries. And thirdly, we're making mining operations more sustainable by taking people out of harm's way and using less energy, water, and creating less waste. Now, these priorities will guide our future technology investment. But as an industry, we don't need to wait until tomorrow to make significant progress. Let's look at sustainability for example, and see some of the practical steps available today. I'll start with less energy. We've recently commissioned independent research into energy consumption in five future-facing commodities, including of course copper. The full details, which have been reviewed by both the Sustainable Mining Institute and Committee for Eco-Efficient Comminution, will be made available shortly. But I can share some of the highlights with you today. As we look at energy across a typical open-pit copper site, we see two large drivers of emissions. The first is diesel, which is used in a variety of mobile and stationary equipment across the mine site. And the second is comminution, where large rocks are ground and crushed. And here, the majority of the mines are using legacy tumbling mill technology. But we at Weir have developed Enduron high-pressure grinding rolls that radically reduce energy consumption by up to 40%, significantly reducing costs and CO2 emissions. Indeed, including the impact of reduced grinding media, we estimate each installation of an Enduron HPGR saves on average 12,000 tons of CO2 equivalent annually, all the same as removing more than three and a half thousand cars from the road. At the same time, it also has the potential to be a dry process, which, as I'll come on to, is an incredibly important benefit in water-scarce regions. We've been delighted with the rapid adoption of this new market-leading technology recently, which underscores the appetite miners have for lowering costs while saving energy and water. And as we all know, water efficiency, particularly in countries like Chile, Peru, and Australia, is an incredibly important issue and key to ensuring our industry continues to have a social license to operate. As demand for copper grows, so too does pressure for water. And as we all know, there's a growing switch to seawater, utilizing the desalination technology originally developed by the Weir brothers. And today, we're providing equipment to support that trend. But one of the biggest opportunities we have is to increase water efficiency in wet processing, where through our Warman pumps, we're working with customers to significantly reduce water loss using our mechanical seals technology. And of course, water management is key to addressing the issue of safe tailings management. Miners don't want to be some of the biggest waste management companies in the world, but that's what they are. And the problem is getting worse due to ore grade declines. At Weir, we have a strong track record in tailings management, and our dedicated research center in Melbourne, Australia, is recognized across the industry as a center of expertise. So how are we helping solve this problem? Well, we see the challenges as threefold. First, send far less water to the tailings storage facility and recycle it back into the process. Second, create a more stable waste product that is less inclined to flow, particularly in seismic zones. And third, turn tailings into a reusable product or as backfill. How do we do this? Well, the answer is with our TerraFlow technology, which utilizes our proven dewatering equipment and process expertise to increase water recovery by up to 85%, while also optimizing power usage. It also has the potential to turn a liability into a source of value, enabling tailings to be used as a resource. The technology is in the field as we speak, and we're really excited about its potential as a cost-effective solution to one of mining's biggest challenges. So as you've seen, innovative engineering is crucial to making mining operations more sustainable. At Weir, it's why we have put sustainability and efficiency at the heart of our purpose as a business. But to make a lasting difference, everyone in the mining value chain needs to play their part. And we at Weir have set out a clear set of targets to make our business more sustainable. Our sustainability roadmap has four main components. The first is creating sustainable solutions for our customers, which as you've seen is something we're deeply passionate about. The second is reducing our own environmental footprint, with the target of halving our emissions by 2030. Thirdly, we're a people-led organization, and therefore we want to be the place where our employees do the best work of their lives, and where they have a real stake in the future. And that's why we give every Weir employee free shares, so they can become a co-owner of our business. And of course, crucially, we want to be a zero-harm workplace. We're incredibly proud of the work we've done to become one of the safest manufacturing businesses in the world, but we won't rest until every operation is consistently incident-free. Let me finish with some of the key takeaways from this presentation. As I said earlier, the prospects for our industry and our markets are extremely positive. But as we meet the challenges of the future, we need to see things differently, which means a technology transformation. But as we strive to achieve future targets, we should also appreciate the practical steps we can take today to reduce energy, water, and waste, and support the bottom line. And by working in partnership, we can unlock value for all stakeholders as we address our collective challenges. And we at Weir are looking forward to playing our part in that bright future. Thank you very much.