Water and Energy Use in Mineral Processing: A Case Study in Copper Flotation

The mineral industry is seeking ways to reduce the impacts of its mining and mineral processing operations. Members of this industry face several challenges in designing sustainable mineral operations with lower environmental and social impacts while remaining profitable. These challenges must be addressed in the design, operation and postclosure phases, but the design phase affords the greatest opportunity to reduce the impact of operations and increase profits. Some of the most important challenges are the efficient use of water and energy. For example, because of the decline in ore grades in mineral concentration is being used to reduce the particle size to increase the mineral liberation. However, this increase in grinding increases energy consumption and affects the water recovery in the dewatering stages. This manuscript examines these and other effects through process simulation of a flotation plant for copper ores. Based on these simulations, the relationship between particle size, energy consumption, and water recovery is established. This makes it possible to explore the trade-off between energy, liberation, and water recovery.