Water is the first theme being tackled by the Zero Emission Copper Mine of the Future project and results of the ‘deep tech dive’ due mid 2021.
The Technology Roadmap on the Zero Emission Copper Mine of the Future (ZECMotF) launched last year highlighted 5 emission themes—material movement, minerals processing , discovery, ventilation and water.
All will be crucial to achieving greener, cleaner copper mining by 2050. But water has been chosen by the copper mining companies on the International Copper Association Australia (ICAA) Board to be the first for a “deep dive” to identify what are the key technology nuts we have to crack to make rapid progress.
The project has already selected three activities to focus on—Dewatering of mine sites, Desalination and Baseline mass water (including exploration & hydrology).
Water is a such scarce resource—especially here in Australia—that it makes sense to be first given how important it is to copper extraction and processing, or to issues of costs, energy, emissions, sustainability and community expectations. For example in Chile it is not uncommon for the mines to desalinate water and pump it up 3000-4000 metres to the mine site.
Whilst this is a global program with participation from copper mining companies in countries around the world, it has been sponsored by the ICAA , the European copper Institute, Sandfire Resources and Anglo American.
The project is run under an executive council through a Technology Management Committee, focussing on the ‘deep dive” through 3 separate Research Working Groups that are made up of topic experts from around the world.
This project will engage with the whole global copper mining industry for years to come and we expect many industry spin off benefits to Australian businesses. The project also has significant global impact and we are keen to work with state and regional centres in Australia to set up many of the future technology programs
The project will be completed by mid-May 2021 and will be released to the industry in June.
More information: John Fennell: john.fennell@copper.com.au
