Recovery and repurposing of thermal resources in the mining and mineral processing industry

Authors

Shannon H. McLean, School of Engineering, Laurentian University, 935 Ramsey Lake Road, Sudbury, ON, CanadaFollow
Jeffrey Chenier, Sudbury Integrated Nickel Operations (a Glencore Company), Sudbury, ON, Canada
Sari Muinonen, Sudbury Integrated Nickel Operations (a Glencore Company), Sudbury, ON, Canada
Corey A. Laamanen, School of Engineering, Laurentian University, 935 Ramsey Lake Road, Sudbury, ON, Canada
John A. Scott, a School of Engineering, Laurentian University, 935 Ramsey Lake Road, Sudbury, ON, CanadaFollow

Author ORCID Identifier

Shannon H. McLean 0000-0001-9900-640X

Corey Laamanen 0000-0002-1321-0491

John A. Scott 0000-0002-2559-0188

Abstract

The consumption of energy contributes significantly to the overall cost of operations and the environmental impact of the mining and mineral processing industry. However, despite a few notable exceptions, most of the resulting waste heat produced is dissipated, without recovery, into the environment. There is also a lot of stored heat in mine water which can be tapped into long after a mine has closed. There is, therefore, significant opportunity to improve the industry's sustainability through increasing the amount of waste heat recovered and repurposed.

Recommended Citation

McLean, Shannon H.; Chenier, Jeffrey; Muinonen, Sari; Laamanen, Corey A.; and Scott, John A. (2020) "Recovery and repurposing of thermal resources in the mining and mineral processing industry," Journal of Sustainable Mining: Vol. 19 : Iss. 2 , Article 5.
Available at: https://doi.org/10.46873/2300-3960.1010

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.