As ore grades decline and cost pressures intensify, operators are being forced to rethink what sits in legacy assets.

Technologies such as advanced sorting, bioleaching and nanotechnology are beginning to unlock value from material that has already been processed once.

The shift is not straightforward. Commercial viability remains site-specific, classification gaps persist, and the economics hinge as much on cost reduction as on commodity prices. But the direction is clear: tailings are moving from liability towards potential asset.

In this episode, we speak with Chamirai Nyabeze of Canada’s Mining Innovation Commercialization Accelerator (MICA) about why that move.

Alejandro Gonzalez, editor of Mining Technology and MINE magazine, is the host of this episode of Energy Technology: Industry Insights.

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(00:00) Intro

(01:30) Productivity in mining

(02:50) Shaping cost structures

(03:40) Change comes slowly

(06:00) Where technology is taking root

(08:10) Open to disruption

(10:50) Finding value

(12:05) ESG and the profit motive

(12:45) Tech deployment