Q&A: Erik Josefsson Explores Green Technology in Mining

As a global leader in measurement technologies, Hexagon works to transform some of the world's most vital industries, including mining. 

It's green technology business venture, R-evolution, focuses on leveraging precision measurement, positioning and autonomous technologies to implement green technology solutions. 

It combines the precision of a global technology leader with the agility of a startup, working to help customers rediscover innovation through transforming environmental data into a business asset. 

Erik Josefsson, President of R-evolution, is a leader in driving business growth and developing innovative environmental projects. 

Throughout his career at Hexagon, he has worked on building and running solar parks in Spain, a digital desalination project in UAE and helped discover thew world's largest nature based carbon capture project in The Bahamas. Now, he is working to protect biodiversity through the Green Cubes models across Latin America. 

Erik shares his insights with Mining Digital.

What is Hexagon doing to help mining businesses respond to growing ESG regulations?

Hexagon’s R-evolution helps mining companies, governments and communities to gain transparency on environmental and biodiversity actions, with a data-driven environmental monitoring approach powered by Green Cubes. The platform collects high-resolution data from satellites, airborne systems, Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) and ground sources, then integrates it into an AI-powered platform for analysis, communication and reporting.

Through this, mining companies can track biodiversity and rehabilitation progress, while producing standardised reports that meet regulatory requirements. By making environmental performance measurable and auditable, R-evolution reduces the risk of inaccurate ESG reporting, strengthens compliance and improves transparency with stakeholders. Moving the environmental assessment from estimates to evidence with transparency through the digital twin.

How are digital twins reshaping environmental responsibility in mining?

Digital twins are transforming environmental responsibility in mining by creating dynamic, continuously updated representations of real-world environments that, unlike static 2D satellite derived planning tools, they also incorporate high resolution 3D from LiDAR, and in situ monitoring, such as collecting data directly on the site itself to reflect current site conditions over time.

This allows mining companies to move beyond snapshot reporting and actively simulate, analyse and predict environmental change. For example, organisations can model contaminant spread through rainforest rivers, analyse biodiversity loss, and predict impacts on wildlife habitats, allowing them to identify risks earlier.

The result is a more proactive, evidence-based approach to environmental management that supports stronger restoration outcomes and progress toward net positive impact.

What has Hexagon found from its LiDAR flights over Vale?

LiDAR flights conducted over Vale have revealed biodiversity insights that would likely be missed using traditional methods. These include ground surveys and manual habitat mapping, which rely on direct human observation and are often limited in scale and detail.

Early results by deploying Green Cubes, included the first Puma concolor sighting in a decade and the first recorded video of maned wolves. In addition, AI-enabled monitoring identified 146 bird species within 90 days. This initial phase laid the groundwork for the full platform activation with LiDAR mapping down to 10 cm details for loss and gain analysis starting in 2026, demonstrating the value of combining high-resolution LiDAR with AI for environmental monitoring.

How is Hexagon using tech to support rainforest conservation?

R-evolution supports rainforest conservation by enabling a more comprehensive view of environmental conditions across large and often remote areas. Combining Hexagon technologies from satellite to soil we give transparency and indications on the rainforest highly complex biodiversity.

High-resolution 3D mapping, Airborne LiDAR Scanning (ALS) provides detailed insight into forest structure, while satellite imagery extends visibility across wider regions. This is reinforced by ground-based data collection to validate what is happening on the ground where Terresteral LiDAR Scanning was used (TLS) as training data for the 3D modeling.

Together, this technology allows organisations to monitor biodiversity and track changes in forest health such as any signs of stress or disease with greater accuracy than traditional methods. As a result, mining companies can manage rainforest environments more effectively and meet requirements such as regulations for preserving biodiversity, and restoring native vegetation.

The nature intelligence and data collection with Green Cubes is already in use across many rainforests, examples are Costa Rica, Guatemala and Brazil.

How does the Minecraft project engage communities and younger generations?

The Minecraft project strengthens community engagement by turning complex environmental data into an interactive experience for communities and younger generations. By recreating mining sites within a familiar gaming environment, users can explore ecosystems, learn about biodiversity, and understand restoration efforts in a more engaging way.

This makes sustainability easier to understand and encourages communities to engage with environmental challenges and responsible mining practices. In this case of Vale, we activated the Minecraft server Agonia that has more than 14 000 users.

Why is it important that mining operations consider environmental impact?

Mining operations must address their environmental impact. We are facing a biodiversity crisis where wildlife populations have declined by an estimated 73% on average since 1970. Industries such as agriculture, oil & gas and mineral extraction have an undeniable contribution to biodiversity loss through deforestation, land exploitation and waste.

While dependency on fossil fuels can be reduced, mining will remain essential in our journey towards a more sustainable future. The goal is to move beyond repair and deliver outcomes that exceed the original impact to deliver net positive environmental outcomes.

With greater transparency, supported by systems such as Green Cubes, mining can take a leading role in sustainability by making environmental performance visible, measurable, and accountable.