Mining technology: scratching the surface

摘要

Mining is going through a rapid and profound transformation. It is becoming a global industry, increasingly dominated by a radically shrinking number of global mining companies. Paradoxically, mining technology is not developing at anything like the same speed, even though some significant changes have taken place. Because mining is a global industry, its technologies are rapidly transferred between countries and there is not the same urgent competitive incentive to develop proprietary technologies that one finds in many other industries. Currently, mining companies are putting far more emphasis on finding new, higher-grade ore deposits worldwide than finding better ways to mine them. Demand for metals and minerals is up, and rising; so are prices. To some extent, the mining companies have actually withdrawn from the task of technological innovation as they focus on the urgent immediate goal of increasing production to keep up with demand. Further down the road, however, developing technology will play as important a role in all sectors of mining as it has in the past. Mining may not be the oldest profession, but is possibly the oldest industry - the earliest known mine dates back 43,000 years. Technological progress has always been the key to keeping mineral depletion and mineral prices in balance.