000078830 001__ 78830 000078830 005__ 20230926093527.0 000078830 0247_ $$2doi$$a10.1016/j.egyr.2019.03.004 000078830 0248_ $$2sideral$$a111155 000078830 037__ $$aART-2019-111155 000078830 041__ $$aeng 000078830 100__ $$aPalacios, J.L. 000078830 245__ $$aAvoided energy cost of producing minerals: The case of iron ore 000078830 260__ $$c2019 000078830 5060_ $$aAccess copy available to the general public$$fUnrestricted 000078830 5203_ $$aThere is growing concern about the decline of the ore grade in mines and the increased energy usage for processing and refining metals. In the limit, where no concentrated deposits exist, minerals must be obtained from bare rock. A method for quantitatively assessing the “free bonus” granted by nature in providing concentrated minerals in mines and thus assessing the quality of the different resources is estimating how much energy is needed to concentrate the minerals, as they are already in mines, from bare rock. This bonus granted by nature reduces the costs of human mining and metallurgical processes, as well as the mining effort required of future generations. In this study, the concentration of high-iron-content minerals in common rocks was investigated via a computational model developed using the HSC software. As expected, the range of results for the specific energy for the concentration of iron from common rocks was considerably higher than the energy required by modern processes. This reveals the need to value current iron deposits and the challenge of developing sustainable methods of metal production to satisfy the needs of the present and future generations. 000078830 536__ $$9info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/MINECO/ENE2017-85224-R 000078830 540__ $$9info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess$$aby$$uhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/es/ 000078830 590__ $$a3.595$$b2019 000078830 592__ $$a0.977$$b2019 000078830 591__ $$aENERGY & FUELS$$b52 / 112 = 0.464$$c2019$$dQ2$$eT2 000078830 593__ $$aEnergy (miscellaneous)$$c2019$$dQ1 000078830 655_4 $$ainfo:eu-repo/semantics/article$$vinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion 000078830 700__ $$aFernandes, I. 000078830 700__ $$aAbadias, A. 000078830 700__ $$0(orcid)0000-0003-3330-1793$$aValero, A.$$uUniversidad de Zaragoza 000078830 700__ $$0(orcid)0000-0003-0702-733X$$aValero, A.$$uUniversidad de Zaragoza 000078830 700__ $$aReuter, M.A. 000078830 7102_ $$15004$$2590$$aUniversidad de Zaragoza$$bDpto. Ingeniería Mecánica$$cÁrea Máquinas y Motores Térmi. 000078830 773__ $$g5, Noviembre (2019), 364-374$$pEnergy Rep.$$tEnergy Reports$$x2352-4847 000078830 8564_ $$s413098$$uhttps://zaguan.unizar.es/record/78830/files/texto_completo.pdf$$yVersión publicada 000078830 8564_ $$s112819$$uhttps://zaguan.unizar.es/record/78830/files/texto_completo.jpg?subformat=icon$$xicon$$yVersión publicada 000078830 909CO $$ooai:zaguan.unizar.es:78830$$particulos$$pdriver 000078830 951__ $$a2023-09-26-09:29:38 000078830 980__ $$aARTICLE