Business Chief Americas April 2020

CRC ORE
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struggle to recycle the water efficiently.
This brings another set of
challenges — poor levels of water
recycling and wet tailings dams
that are a safety hazard across
the Industry”.
Dr Adair’s conclusion, and where he
believes CRC ORE can have an impact
with its research and solutions, is that
effective pre-concentration in the mine
is required to dramatically reduce the
volume of treated material that has
no value. “We then need to apply the
principles of gangue rejection into the
design and operation of new energy
and water efficient process equipment
and circuits. This will require the realisation
of co-creation partnerships
between selected miners and suppliers
to implement these solutions
quickly. Nothing less than a complete
step change in energy reduction and
close to full recycling of water will suffice”.
Ironically, he also states that this
will actually increase metal production
at sites, with cheaper capital and operating
expenditures proclaiming that
“sustainability really isn’t a cost!”
APRIL 2020