Trends and Developments in the non-ferrous metal mining industry

摘要

Four main trends can be observed / forecasted for the supply of non-ferrous metals: 1. The average mine / operations size increases. The overall number of mines / mining companies supplying ore to the world market will decrease. 2. There is a trend towards politically and economically stable regions and countries. Investment and ore supply planning need long term stability. Else investors and operators will not take the risk to invest into a mining project or to operate it. 3. Open pit mines will supply the majority of copper ore in the near future; underground mines will regain importance on a medium to long-term view. In general underground mining is and will be appropriate for complex and deeper reservoirs. 4. Process control and automation techniques are more and more applied in order to mine low-grade ore efficiently and to lower operation costs. Copper and Chromium arc taken as examples in this article. Similar trends and developments can be observed for other non-ferrous metals.