https://www.skarnassociates.com/
Skarn Associates Limited of the UK
Skarn was founded in September 2016, initially operating as a mineral economics consulting business. In March 2020 Skarn embarked on building a data business focussed on quantifying and benchmarking mining sector GHG emissions, water use and other ESG impacts, at the asset level. BNC’s parent company, Bloomsbury Minerals Economics, became a shareholder at that time. Skarn currently has around twenty staff, specialists is environment and sustainability, mineral economics, geology, mining engineering, mine water management and process metallurgy. It is now the global market leader in this field.
Skarn’s Greenhouse gas (GHG) emission and energy intensity curves are compiled asset-by-asset for gold, copper (mines, smelters and refineries), nickel (including for products such as matte, briquettes, NPI, FeNi, concentrate), cobalt, lead (mines), zinc (mines and smelters), aluminium-alumina-bauxite, seaborne iron ore and metallurgical coal.
In December 2021, Skarn’s Water Benchmarking Tool was launched, covering the gold mining sector. It integrates operational water data, water balances and external climate data, the latter allowing resilience to drought and flood risk to be compared. Water benchmarking for copper mining followed in March 2022. Skarn will subsequently widen the range of sustainability topics covered further, to include land use, biodiversity and workforce safety.
