"Our sustainability model reflects what we believe the industry should look like in 2030," he said.

"This starts with engaging society."

He said this meant more collaboration, particularly on safety, environment and social development.

"From an environmental perspective, we're looking to eliminate tailings dams, reducing our water footprint, and reduce our energy footprint, for a start," he added.

"We think we can change the flow sheet to make it inherently more efficient and shrink our footprint in terms of the process to make it more cost efficient.

"Looking really long term, the circular economy is a big player.

"We are focusing on the circular economy and looking at those commodities where recycling is critical.

"By 2035, 50% of the world's steel will come from recycled steel. Therefore, it changes the way you look at iron ore and met coal and other technology."

Cutifani said digitisation and other big data technologies had been around a long time but were becoming more powerful as computer horsepower rose and the analytical capabilities improved.

He said it was important for the diversified global miner to understand how to use data in a more effective way.

"It's about helping people understand what a digital environment looks like, what changes you can make, and how to use that data to inform and make better decisions daily, weekly, annually in your life of mine," he said.

This article was based on the answer to one of four questions CEO Mark Cutifani was asked as part of his  interview for Mining Journal's Global Leadership Report. The report focus this year was ‘The Workplace of the Future'. The research included open interviews with some 20 major mining executives and a survey of more than 500 industry professionals. The results will be released in late August.