The debate on the role of fixed processing plants in mining, whether these are an impediment for sustainable mining, forms the core of the transition of the mining industry into the realm of Mining 4.0. The mining industry has traditionally relied on large and stationary infrastructure, but the latest scientific findings indicate that such rigid approaches are an impediment for the achievement of sustainability goals, as these approaches increase the environmental footprint (Pavloudakis et al., 2024).
The use of fixed plants and waste management infrastructure often leads to the development of an enclave approach, designed for the exclusive use of the specific mining site throughout its entire lifecycle (Anzolin, 2021). The lack of flexibility in the application of such approaches makes the mining industry less able to adapt to the changing environment. Moreover, the high energy demands of traditional fixed mining equipment, such as the 4% of the total global power consumption of the crushers and grinders alone, form an impediment for the achievement of reduced carbon footprint (Anzolin, 2021).
To overcome the impediments associated with the application of traditional approaches, the current scientific findings suggest the application of shared infrastructure. Instead of each mining operation developing its own infrastructure, the application of the concept of exploration in already developed infrastructure is suggested as the most sustainable approach (Pavloudakis et al., 2024). The sustainable approaches that are currently applied include:
- The application of technology integration, using the latest cyber-physical technology instead of the traditional physical technology for the processing of the extracted resources (Pavloudakis et al., 2024).
- The application of digital connectivity using the latest FinTech and broadband technology for the development of transparent reporting, thus reducing the depletion of the extracted resources (Sreedharan et al., 2023).
- The application of the circular economy approach, using the 3R approach of Reduce, Reuse, Recycle for the maximization of the utilization of the extracted resources (Pavloudakis et al., 2024).
Fixed plants provide the mining industry with the benefits of economies of scale, but the lack of flexibility in the application of these approaches impedes the development of the required flexibility for the achievement of sustainable mining.
References
Anzolin, G. (2021). Productive development policies in the mining value chain: Policy opportunity and alignment. Inter-American Development Bank. https://doi.org/10.18235/0003886
Pavloudakis, F., Roumpos, C., & Spanidis, P.-M. (2024). Sustainable mining and processing of mineral resources. Sustainability, 16(19), 8393. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16198393
Sreedharan, S., Ramachandran, M., Ghosh, S., & Prakash, S. (2023). The anatomy of an infrastructure for digital underground mining. Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Internet of Things, Big Data and Security, 218–225. https://doi.org/10.5220/0011982700003482
