Over the last 30 years, the average grade of Australian ore bodies being mined has halved while the waste removed to access the minerals has more than doubled. This trend is repeated worldwide and is driving massive increases in energy consumption by the mining sector. In the last eight years Australian mines incurred a 70% rise in energy use¹, and a 24% decline in productivity² over the same period. At the same time, growing constraints on energy, water and carbon have seen costs rise dramatically.  

(Source: Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES) 2008)

(Source: Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES) 2008)

These pressures directly threaten the economic viability of mineral extraction, and the situation is set to deteriorate further as social expectations and new environmental legislation continue to target the industry.

At the present time mining companies must increasing capital expenditure and energy consumption to increase throughput and extract as much metal as possible from the available low grade ores.  These productivity improvements are not offsetting the decline in grade, and in the near future the industry will reach a tipping point where mass processing of low grade deposits using conventional technology is no longer viable. 

(Source: Brook Hunt Metals Cost Service Analysis  2011) 

(Source: Brook Hunt Metals Cost Service Analysis  2011)  

To reverse the trend the industry is seeking to embrace new technologies to increase extraction efficiency. These technologies will need to increase the metal content of ore being processed, while reducing energy and water consumption during the extraction process.

This is the challenge that CRC ORE was created to address, with a three program portfolio targeting inefficiency throughout the mining process and aiming to dramatically reducing the cost and environmental impact of mining operations.

1: Energy Trends Report, December 2008. ABARES.

2: Productivity in the Mining Industry, December 2008. Productivity Commission.