Summary
Discover how a leading global mining and chemicals company leverages AI to enhance its water stewardship strategy and mitigate water risks through one centralized platform. Tronox has partnered with Waterplan to improve risk identification, prioritize high-risk sites, and streamline reporting.
“It is important that the commitments we make and the actions we take are grounded in comprehensive and contemporary data, so we can prioritize our water risk mitigation efforts in the areas that will have the most meaningful impact.”
Tronox Vice President, Sustainability
Before Waterplan
Water is a critical resource for the mining industry. It is used for various operational activities such as: mine dewatering, slurry transport, separating minerals, dust suppression and cooling systems. As demand for minerals is surging, water use in mining is taking center stage. The industry stands to face significant water risks: with 16% of critical mineral mines located in areas with the highest water scarcity. It is why water scarcity is recognized as one of the greatest risks to the mining industry.
Tronox, a global producer of zircon and high-purity titanium dioxide chemicals, recognizes the critical importance of water stewardship in ensuring business continuity, and partnered with Waterplan to develop their water management strategy. Right now, our work together focuses on comprehensively mapping water risks in all their mining and downstream processing facilities around the world, prioritizing high-risk sites and uncovering industry best practices.
The partnership is ongoing and addresses the following challenges:
Manual water data gathering & analysis: Collecting and standardizing high-quality site water risk data can be time-consuming for sites without standardized processes.
Evidence-based risk prioritization: Every site’s context is unique, with different risk types and levels. Any fragmentation of data can result in misunderstood or unavailable catchment or site risks, impacting the mapping of evolving risks and opportunities.
Evolving and complex reporting requirements: Understanding global reporting requirements and best practices can be complicated and often is limited to point in time gap analysis.
“It is important that the commitments we make and the actions we take are grounded in comprehensive and contemporary data, so we can prioritize our water risk mitigation efforts in the areas that will have the most meaningful impact,” said Dylan Audeyev, Tronox Vice President, Sustainability
One-Source of Truth: Centralized Data Management
Before partnering with Waterplan, Tronox gathered and interpreted water risk data using site-based experts and bespoke processes, however acknowledged there was opportunity to better leverage insights.
By implementing the Waterplan platform, real-time risk assessment information is now readily available across the entire organization, based on standardized and calibrated data sets. By collecting, validating, and centralizing a wide range of data for all Tronox sites, the company can now access all relevant information about their water risk portfolio, in one place, providing one source of truth.
The platform uses a risk assessment tool powered by AI, which scores all data creating clear and actionable insights. Waterplan uses updated global and high-quality site data to provide Tronox with a standardized and efficient risk assessment and prioritization tool. Our risk framework, applying standardized risk scenarios, conveys through a risk matrix the priority sites for focus and highlights suggested improvement opportunities based on best practices. Our risk framework considers:
Hazards Risk Mapping: That takes into account high quality AI-powered data, including local data like: basin management plans, local regulations and groundwater levels; as well as global data, such as: satellite imagery like GRACE, ERA5, GloFAS and World Bank data.
Site Vulnerabilities Assessment: A site-specific questionnaire has been curated to assess the various water uses and also the maturity of the site water strategy, thus analyzing a facility’s exposure and preparedness to water risks.
This allows site prioritization by overall, or category-specific risk, allowing Tronox to make data-driven resource allocations, with the best data available. This information can be exported in various formats, streamlining decision-making and reporting processes, while ensuring consistency and transparency.
As risk scores change and evolve, these analyses are also regularly updated, ensuring the support for effective monitoring and timely reporting.
Quantifying Value At Risk: Deep Dives for Risk Prioritization
With the results from Waterplan’s risk framework, Tronox identified its higher category specific risks and selected three sites (all in different world regions) to undertake an in-depth assessment of the platform. Using AI and a team of water experts, Waterplan mapped the impact of material risk scenarios, and undertook semi-quantitative modelling to create a portfolio of mitigation strategies.
By modeling site-specific risk scenarios, Waterplan’s AI and water expert team built business cases, understanding the value at risk associated with those scenarios and the ROI of the mitigation projects.
With Waterplan’s platform and comprehensive dataset, Tronox can strategically prioritize investments allowing for data-driven decision-making. By consolidating performance metrics and site details, Tronox gains a comprehensive view of its initiatives, enabling efficient resource allocation.
Meeting Sustainability Reporting Requirements: Gap Analysis
To prepare for reporting against new sustainability standards and frameworks, Waterplan has worked with Tronox to undertake a comprehensive gap analysis. This process has helped Tronox clearly identify any reporting gaps and how the Waterplan platform can be configured to efficiently aid reporting.
Given the location of Tronox’s mining and processing facilities, Waterplan’s water expert team performed an overview of the: European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS); International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM) Water Stewardship Maturity Framework; and Minerals Council of Australia Toward Sustainable Mining (TSM) Standards, to identify similarities and differences for each. Waterplan has then helped Tronox to streamline reporting and to efficiently stay ahead of reporting cycles.
Using industry benchmarks, Waterplan has helped Tronox set objectives and determine future metrics to report, identifying both successful practices to maintain and areas for improvement for each of the relevant indicators present in the regulations and frameworks.
Takeaways
This case study highlights how Tronox uses technology to enhance its water stewardship efforts, streamlining risk management, improving data transparency, and enabling informed decision-making. With a centralized system that standardizes and validates water data, Tronox has established a robust and high-quality approach to water risk management. Tronox is making a significant impact and is positioning itself as an industry reference when it comes to water stewardship.
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