New Mining Technologies: Unlocking a New Path for Efficient Recovery of Metal Ore Resources

Against the backdrop of growing scarcity of metal ore resources, improving resource recovery rates has become a core issue for the sustainable development of the mining industry. Traditional mining methods often struggle to meet demands due to low efficiency and high pollution when dealing with low-grade ores and mining wastes. However, new mining technologies centered on hydrometallurgy, by optimizing leaching and extraction processes, provide efficient solutions for the development of low-grade ores and the recovery of metals from wastes, driving the mining industry towards green and efficient transformation.

Hydrometallurgy takes the aqueous solution as the core environment and realizes metal separation and enrichment through two key processes: leaching and extraction. The leaching process uses solvents such as acids, alkalis, and salts to selectively extract valuable metals from ores, and can be divided into heap leaching, agitation leaching, etc., according to the leaching method. For low-grade ores, new leaching agents like EDTA-based chelating agents can accurately form complexes with copper ions, achieving a copper leaching rate of over 90%. Bio-leaching technology, on the other hand, utilizes microbial metabolism to recover copper from tailings, with a leaching rate of 60%-80%, while featuring low energy consumption and less pollution. The extraction process separates metal ions based on the solubility difference between solvents. New extractants, such as rare earth-specific extractants containing nitrogen and oxygen heteroatoms, can achieve efficient separation of rare earth elements with similar properties. Meanwhile, they possess biodegradability, reducing environmental harm.

Nevertheless, new mining technologies still face challenges. Technically, the synthesis cost of some new leaching agents is high, and the processing efficiency of refractory ores needs to be improved. Economically, the initial investment in equipment and research and development is substantial, placing significant pressure on small and medium-sized mines. Environmentally, some reagents pose potential ecological risks. In response, it is necessary to strengthen industry-university-research cooperation to optimize technologies, and the government should introduce subsidies and tax incentives to reduce enterprise costs. Additionally, environmental protection standards should be improved to promote the comprehensive utilization of wastewater and waste residues.

In the future, artificial intelligence and big data will be deeply integrated into mining technologies to achieve intelligent regulation of process parameters. The research and development of green and efficient reagents will accelerate, further expanding the application scope of these technologies. New mining technologies are bound to become a key force in addressing the shortage of metal ore resources and realizing the sustainable development of the mining industry.