Abstract
The tailing storage facility is the largest water sink in most mines. An incorrect management of water content in mine tailings can become a threat to their stability, and consequently, their environmental safety. Also, water reuse and recycling are plausible options to mining companies for reasons pertaining to water scarcity. Dewatering technologies for tailings, desalination and water transport are energy intensive. Proper handling of mine tailings and water supply management can considerably improve the water-energy nexus. This article evaluates the water-energy nexus in copper mining companies using a water reduction model focused on mine tailing facilities and water supply to the mine site to find the trade-offs between water and energy. The originality of this work consists in the application of a real options approach, enabling to increase the flexibility of decision-making thanks to quantitative analysis. This approach deploys the Monte Carlo simulation to perform sensitivity and uncertainty analysis to evaluate every cost component of water management strategy. Results show that if seawater is the primary source of raw water to the mining plant, water transport represents the largest cost due to the use of energy. So, improving the reuse of water by using dewatering technologies will improve the water-energy nexus, by improving energy consumption. Even though the costs of these technologies are elevated because they are energy-intensive, reduction of water use requirements in the mine will reduce the cost of its treatment and transport.
Highlights
Water and energy are essential for the well-being of society
capital expenditure (CAPEX) and operational expenditure (OPEX) of tailings dewatering technologies were obtained by scaling the equipment costs stated in the Ajax Project Report [83]
The costs of conventional tailings disposal are: CAPEX of 669 M US$ and OPEX of 369 M US$; for Thickened tailings (TT), CAPEX is 678 M US$ and OPEX is 396 M US$; and filtered tailings (FT) has a CAPEX of 1,326 M US$ and OPEX of 1,290 M US$
Summary
Water and energy are essential for the well-being of society. Mining is both water and energy-intensive in its processes. In Chile, the mining industry represents between 2 and 4.5% of the national water demand [1]. Mining is a particular case due to the following characteristics: high revenues, excess discharge of water, social and environmental performance, water efficiency, and alternative energy sources [2]. Water consumption by the mining industry has increased. In Chile, the copper mining industry consumed 17.35 m3/s of water in 2018 [3], 13.36 m3/s of raw water, and 3.99 m3/s of seawater; back, in 2012 the sector consumed 13.4 m3/s of water. The decrease in ore grades is one reason why the mining in dustry has increased its water and energy consumption
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