Improving mining efficiency through sustainable recovery of energy

A significant step towards sustainable mining would be non-traditional, but productive uses for the mine. In particular, uses that would allow them to provide value and jobs to the community both during mining and after operations cease. To help in achieving this goal there is potential positive use of both closed and operational mines to provide renew able geothermal energy from their mine waters. The relatively stable temperature of mine water can be exploited by the use of geothermal recovery loops coupled to heat pumps. During the winter, heat can be extracted from the water and supplied for space heating, and in the summer the process can be reversed, and the heat transferred back to the water to provide cooling. This project will combine direct measurements within mines with modeling to determine a feasible design for geothermal energy recovery in Canadian hard rock mines.

Faculty Supervisor:

Dr. Ashley Scott

Student:

Andrew Hall

Partner:

CAMIRO

Discipline:

Engineering

Sector:

Environmental industry

University:

Laurentian University