Strategy of energy efficiency enhancement for sustainable and environmentally balanced development of gold deposits at its final stage

IPKON RAS, 111020 Moscow, Russia

^* Corresponding author: rylnikova@mail.ru

Abstract

The article presents the rationale of the concept and defines the principles of keeping the production potential of a mining engineering system at the final stage of development to prevent a mine closure accompanied by a range of social, economic and environmental problems resulting from the disturbance of habitat, as well as lithosphere and hydrosphere parameters, etc. This concept can be implemented due to radically new geotechnology solutions aimed at the alteration of gold ore mining and processing technologies with the eventual disposal of wastes to mined-out areas. At the current stage of mining science advancement, energy efficiency and resource saving are inseparably connected with the sustainable use and conservation of non-renewable natural energy sources and transition to the use of technology-related energy sources regenerated in the course of mining. In this case, energy efficiency is viewed as economically feasible electricity consumption achieved at the current level of mining machinery and technology development and mandatory compliance with environmental safety requirements. Enhancement of energy efficiency envisages the minimization of energy consumption for mining processes while maintaining the scale of production and tackling the accompanying non-production challenges.

For the first time, for gold deposit conditions the author proposes general methodological approaches, in combination with a certain level of details, to the problem of systematization and estimation of opportunities of renewable energy sources use in the course of implementation of mining processes. The importance of the mentioned problem solution for mining sciences is in finding the evidence of the fact that in the course of implementation of mining processes within the framework of a mine various technology-related renewable energy sources are formed, which were not taken into account earlier, while the discovered objective laws of the formation of these energy sources, which, depending on the design and technology parameters of mining operations, provide a choice of preferable technological solutions to minimize the consumption of external energy supply by a mine. Development of new technical and technological solutions on the conversion of technology-related energy sources into electricity, its accumulation and consumption for in-mine needs will significantly minimize the consumption of external power supply, and in general it will enhance energy efficiency of mining operations and involve deposits located in remote and hard-to-reach areas in production.