Energy in Mining

Fernando Carrascal, Director of Operating Excellence at Goldcorp, is the champion of the CMIC Energy Initiative.

Energy is a significant and complex issue for the mining industry.  The CMIC Energy Initiative is being developed by a committee representing major mining and power supply/utility companies in Canada.  The committee has identified several important focus areas including the secure supply of reasonably priced energy, liquid fuels, energy efficiency, alternative energy, and GHG generation, among others.  The committee has been working with academics in Canada to define specific research themes that can be grouped for potential funding from industry and government grant programs.

From an energy use and intensity basis, the mining industry faces several challenges from the decreasing grade of deposits to the increasing depth of underground mines and scale of open pits.  The challenges of breaking, moving and processing vast amounts of rock are fundamental issues that are also being addressed by the CMIC Mining and Processing Initiatives.  The Energy Initiative will coordinate efforts with the other initiatives to seek the most effective research directions.

The CMIC Energy Initiative hopes to develop programs and projects for consideration by industry and funding agencies through 2012 and 2013. 

The companies that have provided support and personnel to date are shown below: