1 — BHP (CEO: Mike Henry)
BHP, led by Mike Henry, remains the industry’s benchmark for scale and disciplined transformation. Under Henry’s stewardship the group has doubled down on data-driven operations, embedding digital twins and plant-level AI into core iron-ore and copper assets so that planning, predictive maintenance and throughput optimisation operate on a single, auditable platform; the company’s telemetry, fleet analytics and exploration-AI work are framed not as experiments but as capital projects that reduce downtime, raise recovery and lower emissions intensity.
On sustainability, Henry has steered BHP toward formal Climate Transition plans and is actively exploring low-carbon material pathways and renewables integration at large mine sites, moving beyond targets to pilot projects that connect electrification with metallurgy and logistics. The CEO’s public narrative is consistent: technology must deliver cash-returns and measurable environmental benefits, and BHP’s procurement and capital allocation reflect that principle, prioritising scalable digital programmes that transform maintenance regimes, safety performance and the company’s long-term carbon profile.
2 — Glencore (CEO: Gary Nagle)
Glencore, under Gary Nagle, combines one of the largest industrial mining footprints with an enormous trading business, and that dual role shapes its pragmatic approach to technology. Nagle has emphasised projects that improve industrial reliability, fleet telematics, real-time condition monitoring and digital safety systems in both underground and open-pit operations, while the trading arm invests in analytics and optimisation tools to manage global flows and price risk.
Sustainability at Glencore reads like an industrial programme: mid-term emissions targets, stepped improvements in tailings stewardship and water management, and investments in rehabilitation and community programmes designed to reduce operating risk in sensitive jurisdictions. Nagle’s contribution has been to marry digital integrity with commodity trading sophistication, insisting that data-quality and secure telemetry underpin both safer operations and more efficient market functions, thereby tightening the company’s control of both physical assets and the logistics that deliver value to customers.
3 — Rio Tinto (CEO: Simon Trott)
Rio Tinto, with Simon Trott at the helm, is the archetype of industrial automation at scale, the Pilbara story remains central to its identity, but under Trott the focus is turning from pilots to repeatable delivery and capital discipline. Rio’s operations have long showcased autonomous haulage, remote operations centres and digital twins that link ore-body models with plant control systems; Trott’s leadership emphasises translating these technological capabilities into stronger cash flow and a tighter project delivery cadence so that automation becomes a predictable contributor to margin expansion.
On sustainability, Rio is increasingly positioning copper and low-carbon metals at the core of its strategy, coupling electrification pilots and renewable power procurement with rigorous water and tailings disclosure; Trott’s public direction stresses that technology must be married to governance and execution to deliver durable decarbonisation and to make the company’s large-scale automation investments truly industrial rather than experimental.
4 — Zijin Mining (Chair/President: Zou Laichang)
Zijin Mining has grown rapidly through acquisition and project execution, and President Zou Laichang has overseen a technology agenda that standardises performance across diverse assets. Zijin’s approach to digitalisation is practical and systematised: process automation, remote monitoring and energy-efficiency programmes are deployed across Asia, Africa and Latin America to lift throughput and control costs at scale, while exploration analytics and modern data practices accelerate project pipelines.
Sustainability work at Zijin emphasises practical measures, better process control to reduce energy intensity, investments in tailings management and community programmes in host nations, reflecting a business model that balances rapid growth with the need to manage ESG exposure. Under Zou the company has moved technology from ad hoc improvements to an operating standard that both governs newly acquired assets and supports faster integration of project economics.
5 — Newmont (CEO: Tom Palmer)
Newmont, led by Tom Palmer, is the global gold industry’s standard-bearer for combining technology with sustainability in complex environments. Newmont’s disciplined roll-out of digital twins, sensor networks for grade control, and machine-learning pilots for fleet optimisation has been explicitly framed as a means to stabilise production, reduce unplanned downtime and strengthen permitting narratives in sensitive jurisdictions across Africa, the Americas and Australia.
On environmental stewardship, Newmont pairs those digital projects with strong biodiversity programmes, water stewardship and tailings monitoring, positioning technology as a tool that enables safer operations and better community outcomes. Palmer’s contribution has been to enshrine the view that digital investments must demonstrably improve safety and environmental metrics as well as cost, using technology to reduce operational risk and to support the company’s social-licence work at complex, high-stake sites.
6 — Southern Copper (CEO: Óscar González Rocha)
Southern Copper, overseen operationally by Óscar González Rocha, is a vertically integrated copper platform whose technology and sustainability programmes are focused on the industrial challenges of smelting, water and energy in arid regions. Southern Copper’s digital investments centre on concentrator automation, lab and sampling automation, and smelter energy optimisation, technologies that directly improve recoveries and reduce energy intensity, while the company’s sustainability agenda emphasises water-reuse projects and community investments to manage the social and environmental constraints of large open-pit operations.
González Rocha’s operational emphasis has been steady expansion allied to engineering rigour: deploying technology where it lowers unit costs and mitigates the water and emissions risks that can derail copper projects in water-scarce geographies.
7 — Agnico Eagle (CEO: Ammar Al-Joundi)
Agnico Eagle’s leadership under Ammar Al-Joundi has focused on low-risk growth and the safe industrialisation of new assets, with technology playing a central enabling role. Agnico uses digital geotechnical monitoring, remote asset management and targeted underground automation, particularly in ventilation control and geotechnical stability monitoring, to keep northern and deep operations predictable and safe.
Sustainability at Agnico is tightly integrated with these technical programmes; better monitoring leads directly to fewer incidents, more reliable permitting and stronger community outcomes in remote regions. Al-Joundi’s approach is characteristically conservative but effective: technology is applied in measured steps, prioritising human safety, regulatory confidence and steady production rather than headline-chasing innovation.
8 — Freeport-McMoRan (CEO: Kathleen Quirk)
Freeport-McMoRan, guided by Kathleen Quirk, is one of the world’s largest copper producers and has been accelerating electrification and process innovation to meet the rising demand for low-carbon copper. Freeport’s technology agenda combines predictive maintenance, mill optimisation and renewable-energy procurement to both expand capacity and reduce lifecycle carbon intensity at its major open-pit sites; these investments reflect the twin imperatives of delivering timely copper supply while meeting stricter environmental expectations from buyers and financiers.
Quirk has driven a pragmatic agenda of aligning technology investments with schedule certainty and emissions reductions, ensuring that project delivery can support the scale of copper demand tied to electrification and the energy transition.
9 — Grupo México (CEO: Germán Larrea / executive team)
Grupo México, under the stewardship of Germán Larrea and the executive team, operates at an enormous industrial scale and uses technology to defend throughput and manage environmental risk. The group’s digitalisation efforts target concentrator controls, smelter efficiency and water-management systems in arid operating regions, recognising that smelter energy consumption and water scarcity are the two most immediate operational risks in many of its geographies.
Larrea’s leadership is synonymous with throughput discipline: technology is deployed to protect margins and to stabilise long-cycle operations while compliance and community investment programmes aim to secure social licence where project scale and local sensitivities demand it.
10 — Anglo American (CEO: Duncan Wanblad)
Anglo American, now led by Duncan Wanblad, continues to be a bellwether for how large diversified miners can synchronise electrification, automation and social licence. Anglo’s work on remote operations centres, staged autonomy and BEV-ready electrification pilots demonstrates a coherent strategy: pair fleet electrification with smart charging and renewable power so that autonomy is implemented on a foundation of reliable and lower-carbon energy.
Anglo’s sustainability agenda, from detailed tailings disclosure to large renewable procurement efforts, is integrated with its technology roadmaps so that electrification and digital twins are tools for both performance and emissions reduction. Wanblad’s stewardship has emphasised simplification and delivery, pushing the organisation to link technology investments explicitly to measurable safety gains, reduced carbon intensity and better capital efficiency, and to treat automation as a staged, socially accountable industrial programme.
What this composite picture tells us — three short takeaways
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Technology is now strategic capital, not optional: CEOs on this list are making digitisation and AI a board-level priority, used for discovery, asset reliability, process control and emissions management. (See BHP, Rio Tinto, Freeport and Newmont examples.)
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Sustainability and digital adoption are converging: Water-reuse and smelter decarbonisation programmes (Southern Copper, Ma’aden) show technology is the mechanism that turns sustainability commitments into measurable outcomes.
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Leadership matters — the CEO sets the tempo: across the majors, CEOs who speak publicly about “tech + people” (Mike Henry, Duncan Wanblad, Kathleen Quirk, Simon Trott) have nudged their organisations to tie digital projects to measurable returns and social licence. That alignment reduces execution risk when new automation or community-facing technology is deployed.
How you can use these insights (for investors, suppliers and host-country policymakers)
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Investors: look for miners that link digital KPIs to capital discipline, not just glossy pilots. Annual and sustainability reports are increasingly the place where this linkage is made explicit.
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Service providers / tech vendors: design commercial models where ROI is shared (outcomes-based pricing), and be ready for multi-site rollouts, the majors want scalable solutions that work across jurisdictions.
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Policymakers & unions: insist on transparent impact analysis for automation (job displacement + upskilling plans). Several CEOs stress that tech is meant to augment safety and create higher-skill jobs; implement local upskilling programmes tied to procurement.