The Water Efficient Plant of the Future - Towards a Holistic Process Chain Approach

The current philosophy employed in the design of mineral processing plants effectively involves bolting together segmented unit operations both chosen and optimised from a product-centric perspective. In this context, integration of water saving technologies at an overall plant level becomes difficult and often only local water efficiency improvements are feasible. In general only limited benefit can be obtained from such add-on solutions. It is therefore proposed that to obtain significant savings in water consumption and reductions in the volume of discharged contaminated water in the mining process, the entire process along the mining and mineral processing chain should be addressed This paper explores aspects of the processes that may be modified to provide an integrated and combined step change saving in water consumption. It is also apparent from this study that taking a more holistic view of the process can provide significant benefits in energy savings and total cost of production, providing the potential of a substantial win-win outcome.