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Comminution: Why Smart Companies Are Focusing On It

VISUALCAPITALIST COMMINUTION AND WHY SMART COMPANIES ARE FOCUSING ON IT IMPROVEMENT IN COMMINUTION PRESENTS A HUGE OPPORTUNITY FOR INCREASED EARNINGS. ONCE MINED, ORES TYPICALLY MUST BE CRUSHED AND BROKEN BEFORE THE DESIRED MINERAL CAN BE EXTRACTED FOR USE IN THE MODERN WORLD. THIS PROCESS OF GRINDING AND CRUSHING GRINDING & CRUSHING ORE - COMMINUTION - IS ON AVERAGE THE HIGHEST ENERGY STEP IN MINING. FLOTATION / CONCENTRATION EXCAVATION & HAULING LEACH / ABSORPTION TAILING DISPOSAL DRILLING & BLASTING ORE CONVEYING 4% 7% 22% 1% 2% 10% 53% Mine Site Energy Consumption COMMINUTION ACCOUNTS FOR THE LARGEST CHUNK OF MINE SITE ENERGY CONSUMPTION 1 AND REPRESENTS AT A MINIMUM 10% OF THE SITE PRODUCTION COSTS. 2 In fact: COMMINUTION CONSUMES UP TO 3% OF ALL ELECTRIC POWER GENERATED IN THE WORLD.3 That's enough to power GERMANY. THE MINING SECTOR IS FACING COMPELLING DRIVERS FOR CHANGE! Driver One: FALLING ORE GRADES AS THE HIGHEST GRADE OREBODIES ARE MINED AND EXHAUSTED, THE AVERAGE GRADES OF ORES ARE FALLING ACROSS THE BOARD, RESULTING IN HIGHER COSTS. AVERAGE ORE GRADES OVER TIME LEAD GRADE (%) GOLD GRADE (%) COPPER GRADE (%) NICKEL GRADE (%) 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 YEAR As the target minerals comprise lower volumes of the mined ore, the ore must be ground and crushed to smaller particles. THIS REQUIRES MORE ENERGY AND INCREASES COSTS 6 + FUTURE OPERATIONS PRESENT DAY SIZE OF PARTICLES Driver Two: RISING ENERGY COSTS As the easily accessible orebodies are exhausted, mining operations are moving into more remote areas of the world, where access to inputs - energy, labour, infrastructure is limited and more costly. $$$$$ PRODUCTION COST PRODUCTION COST Studies show there are energy saving opportunities of 420 trillion BTUS/year in industrial crushing and grinding alone.? enough energy to POWER CANADA for 11 whole days LARGE BENEFITS ARE AVAILABLE TO THOSE WHO ADOPT ENERGY EFFICIENT COMMINUTION STRATEGIES IMPROVE EARNINGS INCREASE OUTPUTS IMPROVE SOCIAL LICENSE TO OPERATE EXTENSIVE RESEARCH BY THE MINING INDUSTRY HAS ALREADY IDENTIFIED THE FOLLOWING METHODS FOR IMPROVEMENT: 3 NEW GRINDING TECHNOLOGY SMART BLASTING PRE-CONCENTRATION 00 LEADERS IN THE INDUSTRY ARE NOW MOVING FORWARD. FOR EXAMPLE: Compañía Minera Antamina doubled its SAG mill throughput between 2007 and 2010 through comminution optimization. 9 Barrick Gold Corporation (world's largest gold producer) improved its comminution process last year at three mine sites and: The Newmont Boddington Gold Mine has also optimized comminution processes and has doubled secondary crusher capacity and utilization. 11 ACHIEVED AN AVERAGE REDUCTION IN ENERGY OF 5.3% FOR EACH MINE. 10 +50% Leading mining companies are investing in research and promoting change in this field. CREATED $5.2 MILLION ANNUALLY IN DIRECT ELECTRICAL SAVINGS.10 AS WE EXHAUST EASILY-ACCESSIBLE, HIGH-GRADE OREBODIES, COMMINUTION EFFICIENCY IS BECOMING INCREASINGLY IMPORTANT. TO LEARN MORE ABOUT HOW COMMINUTION EFFICIENCY CAN BE IMPROVED VISIT WWW.CEECTHEFUTURE.ORG/ CEEC THE FUTURE VISUAL CAPITALIST Educating a new generation of investors on resource investing and management VISUAL CAPITALIST www.visualcapitalist.com SOURCES Powell, M. Energy Efficient Llberation and Comminution Research, CSRP. Available at: http://www.csrp.com.au/projects/comminution.html http://www.nrcan.gc.ca/minerals-metals/technology/green-mining-initiative/4483 Report of the US NRC Committee on Comminution and Energy Consumption, 1981; Prof. Fuerstenau, Berkeley University, 2003. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2042rank.html Mudd, G.M. (2009)The Sustainability of Mining in Australia: Key Production Trends and Their Environmental Implications for the Future. Department of Civil Engineering & Mineral Policy Institute No. RR5, 185-187 Hukki, R.T. (1961) Proposal for a Solomonic settlement between the theories of von Rittinger, Kick and Bond. Transactions of AIME 220, 403-408 Mining Industry Energy Bandwidth (June 2007). U.S. Department of Energy Industrial Technologies Program, pg 2. http://www.centreforenerg.com/AboutEnergy/CanadianEnergy/EnergyDrivesCanada.asp?page=16 Optimising and Continuos Improvement of Antamina Comminution Circuit by Rybinski et al. Available at: http://ceecthefuture.org/abstracts/optimisation-and- continuous-improvement-of-antamina-comminution-circuit 10 Improving Energy Efficiency in Barrick Grinding Circuits by Lloyd Buckingham. Available at http://ceecthefuture.org/abstracts/improving-energy- efficiency-in-barrick-grinding-circuits 11 Process Integration and Optimisation of the Boddington HPGR Circuit by S. Hart. Available at http://ceecthefuture.org/abstracts/process-integration-and- optimisation-of-the-boddington-hpgr-circuit For a complete list of sources, please visit: visualcapitalist.com/sources ORE GRADE MONEY & ENERGY COST

Comminution: Why Smart Companies Are Focusing On It

shared by visualcap on Mar 12
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Comminution, the most energy consuming process in mining, is more important than ever. It represents a huge opportunity for companies in the mining sector to reduce costs and increase earnings as fall...

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