Mining supply chain infrastructure
In addition to the provision of core mining site infrastructure, Arup offers services ranging from concept design through construction to commissioning.
We also undertake operations for all non-process infrastructure such as mines’ energy, water, roads, rail, ports, airport connections as well as accommodation and support buildings.
Arup undertakes complete asset assessments and technical/economic analyses in order to maximise asset use and profitability. We help mining clients to minimise wastage and reduce negative externalities.
Fundamental to mining operation is a source of water, an increasingly scarce resource. The use of wellfields can be offset by using desalinated seawater, minimising losses, evaluating processes for water consumption reduction and improved reuse – including using waste heat for multi-effects distillation using waste heat.
Mines are energy intensive and the cost of power is a critical element of mine feasibility. Solutions for off-grid mines with renewable penetration exceeding 85% are viable, or for on-grid mine PPAs or behind the meter wind and solar to reduce energy prices.
Bendigo in Australia is a city above a city. Its long history as a gold-mining town means there is a huge network of tunnels and shafts beneath its busy streets.
The Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP) and the City of Greater Bendigo asked Arup to build on work by the Bendigo Sustainability Group and GBM Mining to investigate the feasibility of building a pumped hydro system using the old gold mine.
As a firm built on a foundation of social usefulness, we saw this as a chance to do something innovative and contribute to the creation of environmentally friendly communities. The result? A plan for a world-first economically viable pumped hydro system set within a combination of old and new mine workings.
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Mining
We help clients across the minerals and metals sectors to extract and provide the materials society needs, in a responsible and sustainable way.