The Northern Miner Podcast Miners invest heavily into AI, ft Theo Yameogo on EY’s risk and opportunities report
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Oct 28, 2025 
Theo Yameogo, EY’s Americas Metals & Mining Leader, shares insights on the evolving landscape of the mining industry. He highlights operational complexity as a top risk due to declining ore grades and rising costs. Yameogo discusses significant investments in AI and digital technologies aiming for productivity boosts. He also emphasizes the importance of ESG priorities and community engagement amid workforce pressures. As the industry faces geopolitical challenges, the focus shifts towards capital allocation and vertical integration strategies.
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Operational Complexity Tops Risks
- Operational complexity is the top business risk as mining faces deeper, lower-grade ores and more intricate processing needs.
- Complexity aggregates declining grades, logistics, processing capacity, workforce shortages and equipment reliability into a single systemic risk.
Production Misses Move Share Prices
- Missing 1% of production can trigger a ~0.2% share-price dip, while beating earnings yields modest upside.
- Operational misses cascade into financial performance, highlighting tight sensitivity between operations and market value.
Falling Ore Grades Raise Costs
- Copper ore grades have fallen roughly 40%, forcing miners to process far more material for the same metal output.
- Lower grades raise energy, processing and labour needs, compounding costs and operational complexity.