Water-Energy Nexus in Mining Industry

Dear Colleagues,

Water is essential for the mining industry—for mineral extraction and cleaning, as well as for the needs of the miners and people’s lives around the mines. Nevertheless, the huge water footprint of the mining sector imposes a severe strain on the water–energy–raw material nexus.

The mining sector urgently needs a step change towards ecological modernization and sustainable development. In this scenario, the advent of advanced and green technologies provides new exciting opportunities, such as the reduction in water and energy consumption and extraction of water and valuable components from mine tailings.

In this issue, researchers are invited to contribute original research papers as well as review articles related to the implementation of environmentally friendly practices in the extractive sector. This issue embraces the following topics:

• Assessment of the environmental and energetic impacts and the water footprint of the mining activities;
• Rational use of water resources in the logic of a circular economy and a zero-liquid discharge in the extractive sector;
• Implementation of carbon-free technological approaches for reducing the conventional energy resources requirements in mines;
• Extraction of critical raw materials, valuable minerals, and metals from alternative sources (e.g., seawater mining);
• Sustainable treatment of mining wastewaters and acid mine drainages (e.g., membrane processes).

Dr. Sergio Santoro
Dr. Francesco Chidichimo
Dr. Barbara Ruffino
Prof. Dr. Lourdes García-Rodríguez
Dr. Sunil Kumar Tripathy
Topic Editors