DE-RISKING MINING'S RACE TO ELECTRIFICATION

AUSTRALIAN MINING SAT DOWN WITH GENUS GENERAL MANAGER, COMMERCIAL EOIN GORMAN TO DISCUSS ELECTRIFICATION AND THE FUTURE OF THE SECTOR.

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Across Australia's mining sector, the race to electrification is accelerating. Every miner is looking for the fastest route to decarbonise operations, replace diesel dependency, and secure reliable power to remote sites.

But speed comes with risk. These projects are vast in scale, technically complex and time-critical, and they're being delivered in an environment where experience is scarce, the clock is ticking, and the cost of getting it wrong is significant. The challenge isn't ambition, it's execution.

To unpack the challenges and opportunities in this high-stakes transition, Australian Mining sat down with Genus general manager, Commercial Eoin Gorman. Genus is one of the companies with deep, hands-on experience delivering large-scale transmission and power infrastructure in remote and complex environments.

Gorman discussed why electrification is as much about trust and collaboration as it is about technology, and what it will take for miners to stay ahead in the race to net zero.

"Power and transmission have always been specialist fields," Gorman said. "For decades, only a small group of people truly understood how to design and deliver large-scale electrical infrastructure. That deep, tacit knowledge is now retiring out of the system."

New people are entering the market from civil, rail and tunnelling backgrounds, bringing valuable skills but often missing the hands-on experience needed to navigate complex electrical networks. The result is a growing knowledge gap at precisely the moment the sector is being asked to move faster than ever.

"It's not about capability or willpower. It's about collective experience," Gorman said. "As the first generation of electrification projects get built, that experience will return to the market. But right now, many in the market are learning while doing and that slows everyone down."