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Independent, senior judgement on capital-intensive technology decisions in heavy industry — experience and the numbers

Updated 7/15/2026

Selected case studies from our track record: independent judgement and custom techno-economic models applied to capital-intensive technology decisions in mining and heavy industry — mining & mineral processing decisions (critical-minerals due diligence, novel processing due diligence, step-change flowsheets, data-led debottlenecking) and value-led decarbonisation of mine fleets, heavy mobile equipment and heavy-haul rail. Peer-reviewed research (Journal of Energy Storage 2022 & 2023), IHHA Best Paper 2023 (Innovation & Sustainability) and AFR Sustainability Leaders 2024 winner. Full case studies at hardinginnovation.com.

Project photos

Critical-Minerals Due Diligence & Supply-Risk Strategy — Global Automotive OEM

Critical minerals due diligence for a global automotive OEM
Over an 18-month engagement we became a trusted advisor to a global automotive OEM securing its battery supply chain, delivering technical due diligence and supply-risk strategy across 13 critical-minerals projects (lithium, nickel, cobalt, rare earths and manganese) from mine to battery. We built a bespoke risk framework with ramp-up profiling and risked production forecasts that shaped investment staging and offtake timing. Separately, we led structured due diligence of a novel nickel-cobalt processing project: 147 questions across the full value chain and technology-maturity assessment of all 49 unit operations, delivering a clear investment recommendation and a path to bankable feasibility.

Future Ore-Processing Flowsheets & Data-Led Debottlenecking — Tier-One Miners

Mineral processing flowsheet evaluation and plant debottlenecking
We led the desktop evaluation of step-change processing technologies for a tier-one miner targeting a 50% improvement in the energy, cost and recovery intensity of its copper and nickel operations — screening coarse-particle and in-grind flotation, ore sorting and novel comminution, and modelling tailored brownfield and greenfield flowsheets for recovery, throughput, capex and opex. The work identified integrated technology suites worth over a billion dollars in NPV at around three-year paybacks. Separately, for a major iron-ore producer, we forensically analysed a crushing plant's own operating history to pinpoint an over-recirculating tertiary crusher circuit; decommissioning it was estimated to cut downstream load by 40–60%, lifting annualised production at lower cost with a coarser, lower-moisture product.

Mine-Fleet, HME & Heavy-Haul Rail Decarbonisation — Lowest-TCO Pathways

Mine fleet and heavy-haul rail decarbonisation strategy
For a critical-minerals producer we built and pressure-tested ~60, Scope 1 decarbonisation initiatives across heavy mobile equipment (trolley assist, regenerative retrofits, hybrid, battery-electric, hydrogen, LNG, renewable diesel) and mine-optimisation levers, modelled on a consistent techno-economic basis with multi-criteria ranking and a first-pass roadmap aligned to fleet renewal. For a global mining-services contractor, we ran a Value-Ease portfolio assessment across its worldwide equipment fleet, categorising projects as lead / fast-follow / monitor. And in our flagship program — 6+ years and running — we set Aurizon's net-zero fleet direction: the first complete, costed zero-emission transition across a 600+ locomotive heavy-haul network, with a corridor-by-corridor lowest-TCO pathway, a capital plan to 2050, and the zero-emission platforms we conceived (BEL, BET, HET, LRB, TRH) now moving into build and on-track trials at mining operations in WA.

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