1. Our history of innovation
Our growth is a consequence of innovation which has been fundamental to our positioning as industry leaders. We are inspired by future developments, continuously challenging ourselves to search for the best way of doing things so that we can generate maximum value for our stakeholders.
Historically we have had professionals dedicated to the development of knowledge and over time we have consolidated a group of people specialized in studying the complex problems and opportunities in our industry.
Today Molymet has a rate of 7.9 researchers per 1000 employees which puts us very close to the OECD Average.
2. ¿What does innovation mean for us?
At Molymet, innovation is aimed at balancing business profitability and our impact on people and the planet. While we believe in the ongoing development of new technologies, we see innovation as much more than just technology. Instead, innovative thinking runs through all our processes, products and services. For us, innovation is how we make our operations more resilient, unlock new business opportunities and attract the best talent.
“We want innovation to lead us to new ways of doing things, to be something that each area of our company reflects on as we constantly question the status quo.” Edgardo Cisternas, Research and Development Manager
3. Innovation Committee
Innovation requires constant effort and a long-term vision. It is overseen by our Innovation Committee from the top of our corporate structure and aims to:
- Look for innovations and opportunities are in line with our purpose.
- Move from a culture of learning to a culture of creativity and innovation.
- Implement cross-cutting innovation systems.
- Strengthen open innovation initiatives.
- Review budget to ensure funding for innovation projects.
At Molymex, we promote innovation and the continuous improvement of our processes through a program aimed at encouraging our employees to bring innovative proposals for different operation areas.
A committee of employees evaluates and rewards the best innovations which are then implemented. In this way, Molymex, recognizes people who carry out their work thoughtfully and intentionally. It highlights how our people constantly look at how we can boost processes, reduce times and impact positively on our work setting and the natural environment.
4. Our capacity to innovate
Innovation has been part of Molymet since its inception but over recent years we have clearly visualized how and why we are pursuing innovation. Today we feel really proud of the culture of innovation that has been created within our company. This is reflected in the way it permeates far beyond technological advances.
Innovation Capacity
R&D Team
We have a team of 17 professionals, 1300 sq m. of laboratory, offices, library, pilot plant space and a budget of US$1.4 MM.
Know our team:
Excellence
The VP of American Operations has teams on the ground dedicated to Lean process improvement and increasing innovation in our processes.
Market Development
The VP of Commercial and Market Development has a team dedicated to exploring new business opportunities for molybdenum, rhenium and other metals.
Digital Transformation
The VP of Strategic Management, Technologies and DX executes an innovation with digital technology.
Intellectual Property
C3 Diagnosis of Creativity and Innovation
5. ACC Innovation
We have innovated through our “ACC” Concentrate Conditioning Process enabling us to process off-grade materials into pure oxide of high solubility.
Investment in Innovation
*The amount reported for 2020 is underestimated because only the R&D Management budget was reported.
The actual amount estimated for 2020 was US$1.9 million. The large budget increase in 2021 is mainly explained by the investment projects detailed below:
6. 2021 Innovation Projects
1. Waste Treatment Technology
The environmental impacts of waste generation and the high cost of waste treatment have led us to evaluate different ways of innovative management. It is not enough to change the form of final disposal but to achieve our goal of Zero Waste, we need to intervene in the waste production process.
For two years now, our R&D team has been working on a technology to separate effluents of different composition with the aim of recovering by-products and optimizing ammonia consumption. The Vice-Presidencies of Operations and Engineering have played a key role in this project.
2. Digital Transformation
2020 and 2021 have been years of dramatic personal and professional transformation on a level we could not have imagined before.
Innovation transcended being a buzzword and became essential as business moved online and people had to engage in a new way. Since the shift to more remote work, digitalization has been a great help in maintaining operational continuity. Our people rose to the challenge, quickly adapting to new technologies and this has made us more resilient in the face of external factors.
“Digital transformation implies a cultural change with people at the center. It is up to us to give meaning to the new tools” José Mengido, Corporate Manager of Digital Transformation and Industry 4.0.
Digital tools incorporated over the last few years:
We find ourselves in an era where the incorporation of technologies makes companies more resilient against external factors and gives focus to a sustainable future.
“Purposeful Digitization gives us huge scope for innovation. It helps us to be more productive, to identify new opportunities and spaces for improvement.” Juan Cristóbal Valenzuela, Vice President of Corporate Strategic, Technologies and DX
3. Robotic Process Automation
Our Robotic Process Automation (RPA) project was launched in 2019. This initiative allows the transfer of repetitive activities into automations that can perform them quickly and without errors. Most importantly they free up people’s time so that they can focus on strategic activities that add value to the business and where human creativity cannot be replaced.
In 2020, our VP for Digital Transformation and Industry 4.0 contracted a consultant to help assess our company’s digital transformation opportunities. After seeing the enormous potential, we created a strategy for achieving greater efficiency through intelligent selection of technology. Our initial survey looked at more than 30 processes which could potentially be automated and we are continuing to evaluate these. To date, five processes have already been automated, including IVV and VAT Exchange Rate Statements. As automation opportunities arise, we will generate new BOTS to support us in our daily tasks.
4. Lean Philosophy
Based on the success record of Lean in various industries around the world, we started our major transformation to becoming a Lean company and launched its adoption in 2021. We see Lean as a key enabler of our movement from a phase of sustained growth to a phase of sustainable development and it will continue throughout 2022.
Our main aim going forward is to empower more and more employees to maximize the multiple benefits of Lean culture. Not only does it standardize the way problems are solved but it also gives our people a range of tools to create the most value with the least consumption of resources.
To date, the savings from applying Lean philosophy to operational excellence have been US$ 3.2 million.
5. Green Hydrogen
One of the main challenges for the production of green hydrogen is to achieve cost-competitive production, and this is where we are convinced that rhenium can play a relevant role. Science shows that rhenium has the potential to act as a catalyst for electrolysis at a much lower cost than the platinum groups metals (PGMSs) currently used as catalyst materials.
The promotion of green hydrogen as clean energy therefore presents an opportunity to innovate and create new business for Molymet. Apart from its cost advantages, Rhenium has emerged as an excellent alternative to PGMs, due to its remarkable electrochemical properties and its stable and sustainable sourcing.
“Reducing the costs of green hydrogen is imperative for achieving competitiveness against fossil fuels. Rhenium could be a perfect fit, not only because of its excellent electrocatalytic properties but also from an environmental point of view, because it has a lower carbon footprint as a by-product of copper mining.” Gonzalo Bascuñán, Vice President Commercial and Market Development.
6. Arsenic Removal in the circular economy
A growing problem for large mining companies around the world is the treatment of copper impurities, especially arsenic which is naturally present in copper concentrates. Molymet has addressed through innovation thanks to the development of an unprecedented process that removes arsenic without altering the content and quality of the copper. This process also allows the arsenic to be safely stabilized for subsequent disposal in accordance with increasingly stringent environmental regulations.
Molymet is looking to commercialize this technology with potential partners and/or customers.
7. Global Rhenium Re-IMAGINE Challenge
In 2021 we collaborated with NineSigma to launch a Global Open Innovation Challenge in as part of our Rhenium Market Development Program. This was undertaken in the spirit of open-source science and our purpose to generate value through products developed by people who care about the planet.
We kicked off with our Re-IMAGINE webinar in June 2021, sparking world-wide interest from scientists, researchers, startup and companies related to the production and use of green hydrogen. It was a Molymet milestone because this is the first time we have run an open participation competition.
“One of the main advantages of making an open call is the greater speed with which an initiative can be developed and the higher success rate of the projects. Also, by highlighting the opportunity for co-creation, this challenge increased global awareness of our company and our products.” Mario Lama, Market Development Manager.
Green hydrogen is considered the clean energy of the future and we want to make our contribution to the environment. We are also well placed geographically: Chile has been identified by the international community as one of the countries in the world where green hydrogen can be produced more economically due to its abundant solar and water resources.
One of our main challenges for the production of green hydrogen is to achieve cost-competitive production and this is where we are convinced that rhenium can play a relevant role.
The Re-Imagine Challenge initiative awarded US$20,000 to the best proposals. We are also looking at collaboration agreements with some of the prize winners to promote and develop their proposals. The 4 winners were:
