Water and energy synergy and trade-off potentials in mine water management

Abstract

Reducing water consumption and increasing energy efficiency are emerging as two key requirements to move towards a more sustainable mining industry. However, the two targets can be in conflict as water management initiatives often lead to an increase in energy consumption. On the other hand, some water initiatives may lead to reduction in energy consumption, leading to synergy between energy and water efficiency initiatives. To maximise energy and water sustainability in mine water management, it is essential that synergy and trade-off potentials between the water and energy targets related to water initiatives are recognised. Limited research has been conducted to develop a tool or approach to consider water and energy impacts of water initiatives in a coupled manner. This paper presents a protocol to recognise water-energy synergy and trade-off potentials. The protocol is demonstrated for three case study mine sites. The results of this paper show that a particular water management option can hold a synergy potential for one mine but a trade-off potential for another mine. The rigour of the approach captures cases where water management options are predicted to be synergistic, but are in fact shown to be a trade-off according to the results. It is concluded that the use of this protocol can provide insights about synergy and trade-off potentials between water and energy targets of mine sites subject to water management options. This is an innovative approach to more holistically assess water management option impacts.