110713 20220908120613.0 doi 10.46873/2300-3960.1060 sideral 127345 ART-2021-127345 eng Magdalena, R. (orcid)0000-0002-7115-5902 Mining energy consumption as a function of ore grade decline: the case of lead and zinc 2021 Access copy available to the general public Unrestricted Demand for raw materials is increasing exponentially. To satisfy that demand, more minerals need to be mined from the Earth’s crust. As a result, minerals are being exhausted, and ore grades decline. Lower ore grade mines also mean more energy, which in turn entails fossil fuel emissions and more climate change. This paper estimates the specific energy for the beneficiation process of metals lead and zinc as case studies. The evaluation is performed with specialized software, HSC Chemistry which assesses the specific energy for every stage: comminution, flotation, and refining. Different scenarios have been established to simulate the behavior of a mine when it approaches depletion. Preliminary results show that energy consumption for lead would increase by five times when compared to the current situation if ore grades decrease until the level of tailings, while for zinc by almost two. info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/MINECO/ENE2017-85224-R info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess by http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/es/ 0.829 2021 Environmental Engineering 2021 Q1 Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment 2021 Q1 Pollution 2021 Q1 Geology 2021 Q1 6.4 2021 info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion Valero, A. Universidad de Zaragoza (orcid)0000-0003-0702-733X Palacios, J. L. Valero, A. Universidad de Zaragoza (orcid)0000-0003-3330-1793 5004 590 Universidad de Zaragoza Dpto. Ingeniería Mecánica Área Máquinas y Motores Térmi. 20, 2 (2021), 109-121 Journal of Sustainable Mining 2543-4950 1179126 http://zaguan.unizar.es/record/110713/files/texto_completo.pdf Versión publicada 925604 http://zaguan.unizar.es/record/110713/files/texto_completo.jpg?subformat=icon icon Versión publicada oai:zaguan.unizar.es:110713 articulos driver 2022-09-08-11:58:54 ARTICLE