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Image of Journal of Applied Nonlinear Dynamics
ISSN:2325-6192 (print)
ISSN:2325-6206 (online)
Journal of Environmental Accounting and Management
António Mendes Lopes (editor), Jiazhong Zhang(editor)
António Mendes Lopes (editor)

University of Porto, Portugal

Email: aml@fe.up.pt

Jiazhong Zhang (editor)

School of Energy and Power Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, Shaanxi Province 710049, China

Fax: +86 29 82668723 Email: jzzhang@mail.xjtu.edu.cn

GLOBAL GOLD MINING: Is technological learning overcoming the declining in ore grades

Journal of Environmental Accounting and Management 1(1) (2013) 85--101 | DOI:10.5890/JEAM.2013.01.007

Adriana Domínguez; Alicia Valero

CIRCE, Centre of Research for Energy Resources and Consumptions, Universidad de Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain

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Abstract

Future availability of mineral resources is influenced by two opposed facts. On the one hand, general trends suggest a long-term decline in ore grade, which increases energy consumption in mining industry. But on the other hand there have been technological transitions that might avert rises in energy consumption. The aim of this paper is to become acquainted if technological breakthroughs that have occurred can preclude the rising energy demand for the gold mining industry. As experience is acquired, material and energy efficiency increase and technical changes can be expressed through the so called learning curves. Accordingly, the learning curve approach is applied to several data sets of 17 major gold producing countries. Our results show that technological learning is as dependent on ore grade as it is on mining operation and recovery processes. Applying the learning curve method we obtain average progress ratios varying from +20% to -22%. This survey allows us to have a better understanding of the mining sector and the outcomes of technology evolution together with ore grade declining by means of identifying best mining practices around the world.

Acknowledgments

This paper has been financed by the IDERE II project from the Spanish Ministry of Industry and Science. We thank Dr. Gavin Mudd for sharing with us his comprehensive and useful data set of global gold mining.

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