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Australia's mining industry produces a wide range of energy and commodity products. The sector includes companies with activities in coal mining, oil and gas extraction, metal ore mining, non-metallic mineral mining, exploration and other mining services. See the oil and gas webpage for information specific to the oil and gas subsector.
Participating corporations are required to submit an Assessment Plan (AP) 18 months after they trigger or start a new EEO cycle. The AP details the coverage of energy to be assessed and how corporations will satisfy the requirements of the EEO Assessment Framework. Below are assessment plan samples applied to a corporation operating in the coal and metal mining sectors.
The statements in these plans are only indicative of the type of information that corporations might include in their assessment plans.
See also: About the Assessment Plan.
Energy Efficiency in the Mining Sector
In 2010-11, EEO participants in the mining sector used 264.8 PJ of energy, representing approximately 6% of Australia's total energy consumption.
Corporations in the mining sector have identified a range of energy efficiency opportunities to improve haulage efficiency, maintenance practices, equipment use, lighting systems, process control, waste heat recovery and use.
EEO participants in the mining sector have reported identifying 19.5 PJ of energy savings and adopting 10.3 PJ of energy savings. 'Adopted' energy savings includes opportunities reported under the categories of implemented, implementation commenced or to be implemented.
Energy Savings in the Mining Sector^
2011 | 19.5 | 10.3 |
2010 | 14.6 | 7.4 |
2009 | 22.9 | 15.2 |
2008 | 17.2 | 12.7 |
^Energy savings totals include the energy savings of opportunities with a greater than four year payback, voluntarily reported by corporations. For energy savings in oil and gas, please see the oil and gas sub-sector webpage.
Mining Significant Opportunities Register
The Significant Opportunities Register contains a cross-section of the significant opportunities described by mining corporations in their EEO Public Reports. The spreadsheet format can be filtered to find specific types of opportunities of interest. The register aims to facilitate access to different ideas that may assist corporations to identify opportunities to increase energy efficiency.
Useful Resources
Resource materials that may be of use for businesses in the mining sector aiming to improve their energy efficiency include the following:
Improving Energy Efficiency in Barrick Grinding Circuits
| Originally presented at the SAG 2011 International Conference, this paper and its PowerPoint presentation are reprinted with permission of the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM), authors Lloyd Buckingham et al, and Barrick Gold Corporation. This one-pager provides key actions taken and results achieved from one of Barrick Gold's sites. Printed with permission of Lloyd Buckingham, Barrick Gold Corporation. | |
Readings on energy efficiency in comminution | This is a collection of readings put together by the Coalition for Eco-Efficient Comminution (CEEC). The CEEC technical committee have selected a small number of papers available online that cover key comminution issues. These include journal articles, technical papers, conference papers, presentations and press articles. | |
Energy Excellence Program, BHP Billiton Mitsubishi Alliance | BMA is centred on long-term sustainability to provide a platform to growth. To achieve this, BMA have introduced an Energy Excellence Programme (EEx), based on Energy Efficiency Opportunities. BMA have identified a number of projects to reduce energy consumption. One of these initiatives - dragline bucket efficiency - is already showing significant results, with energy reductions of 20% when filling the bucket. | |
EEO Company Case Studies | A look at how some corporations in the mining sector have undertaken EEO assessments and the types of opportunities they have identified and implemented. | |
EEO Workshop Presentations | Presentations made by industry representatives at past Energy Efficiency Opportunities Workshops, describing their corporation's approach to the EEO program. | |
Energy-Mass Balance: Mining (2010) | This guide outlines the processes and considerations that corporations engaged in mining can make when developing an energy mass balance for their large sites or processes. |  [PDF 2.3MB]
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Energy Efficiency in the Mining Sector – The Business Case and Beyond (2010) | This guide was developed by the Department of Resources, Energy and Tourism in collaboration with the Minerals Council of Australia. It describes actions you can take to gain management support and access the resources needed to implement energy efficiency opportunities. | [PDF 4.0MB] |
Representative Assessment Guide (2010) | A guide on undertaking EEO assessments using a representative sample of a larger number of small energy using sites or processes, such as, assessing truck fleet consumption of diesel and the use of power in a specific piece of equipment that is used in various sites. | [PDF 716KB] |
First Opportunities in Depth: The Mining Industry (2010) | A detailed analysis of EEO results reported by the Mining sector in 2006-2008. | [PDF 654KB] |
Energy Savings Measurement Guide (ESMG) | This guide has been created as a best practice guide to assist companies estimate, measure, evaluate and track energy savings. | [PDF 2MB] |  [DOCX 3MB] |
Feedback
Is there an energy efficiency topic in the Mining sector for which you would be interested in further information resources or training opportunities? If yes, please email energyefficiencyopportunities@ret.gov.au.