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The minerals industry invests a great deal of energy in comminution, both in terms of capital costs and operating costs. A number of people have published estimates of how much of the energy is consumed in comminution, including Ballantyne and his co-workers (2012) who estimated that in 2008-2009 1.3% of Australia’s energy was consumed in comminution circuits in gold and copper operations

Water presents a multifaceted set of issues that can rapidly become the touchstone for community acceptance or otherwise of resource developments. Not only are issues of water availability and quality important but water also presents an intrinsic set of values that are often interwoven into people’s perceptions of the issues. This elevates the importance of “getting water right” as an imperative in obtaining social licence to operate.

Assessment of comminution energy intensity has traditionally been confined to the crusher and mill motor power consumption. However, a measure of ancillary equipment power consumption is required to fairly compare disparate equipment types and circuit configurations.

Assessment of comminution energy intensity has traditionally been confined to the crusher and mill motor power consumption. However, a measure of the embodied energy consumed through media wear is required to compare disparate equipment types and circuit configurations fairly.

The comminution energy consumed for an ore can be dependent on the liberation and grade characteristics, therefore different commodities can have inherent energy signatures. The Energy Curve approach can be used to compare comminution energy consumption both within and between commodity classes.

The Comminution Energy Curves contain data from comminution circuits that process a wide range of commodities. Energy per copper equivalent production is used to bring the data together on a consistent basis, but this measure is highly dependent on the chosen comparable metal prices.

Can mining play a role in our transition into cleaner energy technologies? Jane Tin an intern at the Sustainable Mineral Institute, looks at some of the issues