PRESENTER NAME: DR CATHY EVANS.

Look at the contents of your pockets or bag – how many of the objects you are
carrying
right now contain metals that were mined and processed?
The ubiquitous mobile phone contains multiple elements, each of which originally
required
large masses of rock to be mined and refined.
Recent estimates show that up to 11% of the world’s electrical energy is consumed
by
the mining industry in producing the metals that society needs to develop and to
maintain
the standard of living that people around the world want.
When you consider that a large mine can require 250 MW of power, the same as a town
of 150,000
people you can see how the energy use starts to add up.
So the mining and the processing of minerals to produce metals is an energy
intensive activity.
This energy consumption has obvious implications for the industry’s greenhouse gas
emissions
too.
In fact an annual assessment published by a major professional service company
rated
“Reducing carbon footprint” as the fourth most significant business risk for mining
companies.
The orebodies being mined today have some characteristics that make reducing energy
intensity more challenging than in the past.
These orebodies are lower in grade meaning we need to process more rock to get the
same
amount of metal.
The mineral grains in the ore are smaller so the ore needs to be broken into
smaller
particles to separate the valuable minerals from the waste.
And the orebodies are deeper in the ground, meaning rock has to be moved further.
The consequence of these three factors is that more energy is required to produce
each
tonne of metal.
When you consider that society’s demand for metals is increasing you can see that
mining is facing quite a challenge.
So what can we do to minimise the energy consumed in mining, and the industry’s
carbon footprint,
while still maintaining the production of the metals that society needs?
The mining industry has identified multiple approaches to solving this challenge.
Many major mining companies are moving to using renewable energy to power their
operations.
Alongside this they are looking at technical solutions in their mining and mineral
processing
operations – so what areas of their operations are they targeting?
If we look at where the energy is used in a mining operation there are four major
consumers
Moving rock from the mine uses 20% of mining energy, three-quarters of that is in
moving
waste rock which sits on top of the ore.
Breaking rock is the major energy consumer in mining.
Crushing and grinding rock down to particles which are finer than the diameter of a
human
hair so that we can separate the valuable minerals uses 45% of the energy in
mining.
Smelting is the process of melting the concentrated ore to extract the metal from
the minerals
uses 10-20% of mining energy The fourth category is the hidden energy used
in making consumables such as steel grinding balls which can add an extra 20%
energy to
the measured direct energy consumption So how can we meet the challenge of
minimising
energy use in mining?
In the mine, diesel-powered trucks are being replaced with conveyor belts or with
electric
vehicles charged using electricity from renewable sources.
Of course another way to minimise the energy used in moving rock is to move less
rock!
Instead of uncovering the ore to mine it on the surface, we can build large scale
underground
mines using a method called caving.
When it comes to breaking rock there are multiple pathways to minimise energy.
Preconcentration removes waste rock from the process before it gets to the energy
intensive
grinding.
If you can remove 30% of the rock at this early stage the energy saving in grinding
is of the same magnitude.
Mines are installing more energy efficient machines to break rock - high pressure
grinding
rolls can reduce the energy consumed in breaking hard rock by more than a third,
with the added
benefit of removing the need for steel consumables.
Treating the mining and processing stages as an integrated system and applying
energy
to the right place in the sequence can reduce the overall energy usage.
In an approach called Mine to Mill, putting more explosive energy in to break the
rock
in blasting can reduce overall energy use in the crushing and grinding stages.
In smelting a similar integrated approach called Mill to Melt adds a small amount
of
intensive energy in the right place to grind the high grade concentrate and remove
fine
waste rock, lowering the energy needed to melt the waste out in smelting and
minimising
the overall energy.
And if we can replace smelting with chemical leaching of concentrates we can reduce
energy
use – for copper ores this can mean 17% less energy.
Because rocks are natural materials they vary considerably in their characteristics
– just
think about the range of textures and colours in polished rock used on buildings!
As a result there is no one-size-fits-all approach to reducing energy consumption.
But understanding the variable nature of an ore body gives us the opportunity to
choose
the most appropriate mining and processing technologies to minimise energy use for
that
ore.
So mining and processing ores to produce the metals that society wants is an
inherently
energy intensive process.
However, by understanding the ores we mine, applying the right amount of energy in
the
right place, monitoring energy efficiency across the entire span of mining
activities
and making the transition to renewable energy sources, our mining industry can
minimise
their energy and carbon intensity while producing the metals needed by people
around the world
to develop and maintain their desired standard of living.