Utilization of Renewable Energy Technology in the Mining Industry

This study analyzed the utilization cases of renewable energy technologies in several oversea and domestic mining sites. For the oversea cases, three mining sites with photovoltaic systems(i.e., the Chevron Questa mine in USA; Chuquicamata mine in Chile; Meuro abandoned mining area in Germany) and five sites with wind power systems(i.e., the Veladero mine in Argentina; Dave Johnston, Somerset and Buffalo Mountain abandoned mining areas in USA; Diavik mine in Canada) were investigated. In addition, the Lihir mine in Papua New Guinea having geothermal power systems and the Summitville mine in USA with a micro-hydroelectric power system were analyzed as cases utilizing other renewable energy technologies. For the domestic cases, this study considered two passive treatment facilities of acid mine water in abandoned mining areas. The facility located in Boryeong has both photovoltaic and micro-hydroelectric power systems, and the other in Jeongseon utilizes a 85kW photovoltaic system.