Green Mining - Trends And Challenges

The mining industry has always been very resource intensive – large volumes of rock excavated and ground into dust require a major expenditure of energy, water, and other resources. Increased consumption of raw commodities due to global economic growth accompanied by gradual depletion of rich deposits as mining progresses to poorer quality and lower grade material pose challenges to the mining industry for a search of efficient technologies that would help to reduce energy consumption as well as enhance water conservation and overall sustainability of operations.

Among such key technological trends, the following ones could be mentioned:

High-pressure Comminution

High-pressure comminution is almost an order-of-magnitude more efficient than conventional crushing/grinding techniques (6-8% vs. 30-40%) and is becoming a widespread technology these days.

Ore Sorting

Bulk ore sorting is becoming increasingly popular since rejecting the waste ahead of the major processing operations saves 5-20 US$ per ton of waste, with 1-1.5 US$ spent per ton for sorting. The multitude of available sensors allow us to extrapolate sorting to a wider range of commodities.

Dry Comminution and Beneficiation

Though more complicated than wet, industry leaders are actively developing dry technologies. Reducing water consumption saves water and reduces the amount of wet tails…