When people talk about mining electrification, they usually focus on battery-electric vehicles and charging systems. But for mining companies and EPCs, that’s just one aspect to consider.
Mining operations already use energy for extraction, material handling, crushing, grinding, mineral processing, pumping, ventilation, cooling, water treatment, and site infrastructure. Some of these systems mainly use electricity, while others still rely on diesel or other fuels and may switch to electric power later.
Meanwhile, new mines are being built, existing sites are growing, processing needs are changing, and mining companies are adding new electricity sources to their operations. In some areas, water also needs to be treated and moved over long distances and heights, increasing electricity demand.
This creates a bigger challenge: designing a reliable mine power system when both the amount and location of electricity needed can change over the life of the mine.
This challenge is even more important as demand for many minerals keeps rising. The International Energy Agency’s Global Critical Minerals Outlook 2026 predicts that demand for key minerals will nearly double by 2040 under its Stated Policies Scenario. Copper is expected to see the biggest increase, with about 7 million more tonnes needed, mainly for electricity networks and other energy technologies.
Higher mineral demand does not always mean mines will use much more electricity. However, it does increase the need to develop new production, expand current sites, and add processing capacity. Each step comes with its own power needs.
How does a mine use energy?
There is no single energy profile for a mine. For example, a surface iron-ore mine uses energy differently than a deep underground gold mine, a lithium operation, or a combined copper mine and concentrator.
Factors like placement, mining method, production rate, processing steps, water supply and grid access all affect how a mine uses energy. Still, most mining operations need energy in similar main areas.
Extraction uses drills, excavators, shovels, and loaders. After that, material is moved by haul trucks, conveyors, hoists, rail, or slurry pipelines. Ore usually goes through crushing, grinding, and sorting before separating valuable minerals. Depending on the type of mineral and process, this can include flotation, gravity or magnetic separation, leaching, solvent extraction, electrowinning, thickening, filtering, drying, or other steps.
Water needs to be pumped, treated, and circulated. Underground mines often require significant ventilation, cooling, hoisting, and dewatering. Other areas, such as workshops, labs, communications, worker housing, compressed air, lighting, and construction, also use energy.
Processing is still one of the biggest energy users in mining
Comminution, which means crushing and grinding ore to free valuable minerals, is especially important. According to Australian government energy-efficiency guidance, comminution uses at least 40% of all energy in mining and mineral processing. Moving materials is another major energy use, especially for iron ore and bauxite.
The exact energy breakdown varies from mine to mine, but the message for project planning is clear: you can’t understand a mine’s energy needs by looking only at mobile equipment.
Crushing and grinding are key steps in the production process. If these systems don’t get enough reliable power, production can slow down.
For mining companies and EPCs, incoming power supply, transformer size, substations, feeders, protection, backup systems, and distribution design are essential parts of the infrastructure needed to keep production going.
Water can also affect electrical infrastructure
Depending on the mine, electricity might be needed to remove water, circulate process water, move slurry and tailings, treat wastewater, or transport fresh water over long distances. In areas with little water, desalination and pumping seawater can add a lot more electrical demand.
The Chilean Copper Commission clearly illustrates this connection. Cochilco expects the country’s copper-mining industry to use more water, rising from 18.5 m³/s in 2024 to 20.6 m³/s in 2034. More important than the total increase is the shift in supply: seawater is expected to go from 40.7% of water use in 2024 to 67.6% in 2034, thanks to desalination plants and seawater pumping.
Cochilco’s latest electricity outlook also points to rising seawater use as a key reason for higher electricity consumption in Chilean copper mining.
Chile’s geography makes the link between water and power especially strong, but these numbers don’t represent mining everywhere. The bigger engineering point is that when water needs to be treated, moved, or lifted farther, water infrastructure becomes part of the mine’s electrical demand.
Underground mines bring different demands
Underground mines depend more on systems such as ventilation, pumping, hoisting, and refrigeration. The key issue is how these differences shape electrical demand and what that means for planning and managing mine power systems.
As mines are developed and reach greater depths, systems like ventilation, pumping, hoisting, refrigeration, and material transport become more important. Ventilation is especially critical because it keeps air quality and temperature safe when dealing with dust, gases, equipment emissions, and underground heat.
ABB states that ventilation systems may account for as much as 50% of the energy used in certain underground mines, the precise figure depending on the operation.
Electrification can change this balance. Switching from diesel to electric equipment underground reduces the need for ventilation to handle heat and exhaust, but it also creates new electrical demands for charging and running electric machines.
This creates a key planning challenge. Electrification changes both the amount of power needed and how it is used across mine systems. For this reason, effective mine planning should include detailed load modelling to predict and manage changing electrical demand over the mine’s life.
Mobile equipment matters, but it is one load among many
BBA points out that adding more electric vehicles can create variable loads that affect peak demand and, in turn, mine electrical infrastructure. Their 2026 analysis estimates that battery-electric vehicles can add about 3 to 7 MW of demand to some underground mines, depending on how charging is managed and the fleet setup.
These numbers do not apply to every mine, but the main point is that new electrical loads must be coordinated with processing, ventilation, pumping, and other systems that share the same power network.
Where is mine power demand changing, and what is driving it?
It is hard to identify exactly where electricity demand is rising worldwide because mine portfolios differ and reports are prepared in various ways.
In this global context, this analysis summarizes and compares the drivers of changes in mine power needs in key mining regions.
Chile: processing and water are increasing electrical intensity
The Cochilco projects are a good example because they offer clear numbers.
Cochilco projects electricity consumption by the Chilean copper-mining sector to increase from 27.6 TWh in 2025 to 33.2 TWh in 2034, an increase of 20.2%. Over the same period, copper production is projected to grow by 8.3%.
This gap matters.
Concentration alone is projected to consume 18.1 TWh in 2034, equivalent to 55% of sector electricity consumption. Cochilco also identifies increasing seawater use as another contributor to electricity-demand growth.
Chile’s example shows that production volume alone does not predict future power needs. Changes in processing and supporting infrastructure can significantly affect electricity demand.
Australia: the sources supplying mine power are changing
In Australia, changes are underway in how mines get their power.
In the Pilbara, Rio Tinto signed a 30-year power purchase agreement in 2026 for the first stage of the Jinbi Solar Project. Stage 1 will comprise 75 MWac of solar generation, with an option to expand to 150 MWac and potentially incorporate battery energy storage, subject to regulatory approvals and future development decisions. Commercial operation is expected in 2028.
In Queensland, BHP Mitsubishi Alliance announced in August 2026 that 100% of its forecast electricity demand is now matched through renewable power purchase agreements, using a portfolio that includes wind, solar and pumped hydro.
Neither example sets a standard for Australian mining. Instead, they show a broader trend: the power sources for large mining operations are changing as the demands they must meet evolve.
For project planners, generation, storage, transmission, and distribution are now more connected and can’t always be considered separately.
Canada: electrical infrastructure can be an enabling condition for new mines
Canada highlights a different challenge: ensuring new mineral projects have enough electrical infrastructure.
At the McIlvenna Bay mine in Saskatchewan, the project was connected to SaskPower’s grid through a new 85-kilometre transmission line and substation. By September 2026, the mine had produced its first copper, zinc and pyrite concentrates and was ramping toward commercial production while evaluating potential increases in processing capacity.
Critical mineral projects in Quebec face similar needs. Funding has been conditionally approved for a new main electrical station and relocation of approximately 4.2 kilometres of transmission line for the Rose Lithium-Tantalum project. The Dumont nickel-cobalt project has received support for a feasibility study of an eight-kilometre connection to the Hydro-Québec grid. In contrast, work on the Moblan lithium project includes an approximately 55-kilometre transmission connection.
These projects are at different stages and have different technical and commercial requirements. Their common feature is more fundamental: the electrical connection is part of the infrastructure required to develop the resource.
South Africa: generation and grid infrastructure are increasingly connected
South Africa provides another example of how mining demand, new power generation, and transmission infrastructure are connected.
Anglo American’s Envusa Energy platform is developing renewable generation that uses Eskom’s national grid to supply major industrial users, including mining operations. Its Koruson 2 cluster combines wind and solar generation with dedicated grid infrastructure.
Anglo American’s latest project update describes Koruson 2 as a 520 MW renewable-energy cluster. Mooi Plaats and Umsobomvu, representing 380 MW, reached commercial operation by April 2026, while Hartebeesthoek was reported to be in the final stages of construction. All three projects connect through the Koruson 400 kV Main Transmission Substation.
For mine planning, the key point is not just the type of generation technology. It is how new generation, high-voltage transmission, and industrial demand are now being developed together as connected parts of the power system.
A common issue beneath very different regional conditions
The examples above illustrate a range of technical and market situations.
In Chile, processing and water infrastructure are increasing electrical intensity. In Australia, the sources supplying large mining loads are changing. In Canada, transmission and substations can be prerequisites for new mineral development; South Africa shows how new supply and transmission capacity can be developed alongside industrial demand.
Despite different market conditions and technical approaches, one planning theme stands out: mine power systems must adapt to changing operational and infrastructure demands throughout a mine’s lifecycle. This need for flexibility is central to power system planning everywhere, linking regional challenges through a shared need for responsive, future-focused electrical infrastructure.
These changes may result from production growth, new processing, mine expansion, deeper underground work, water needs, new power sources, electrified equipment, or the addition of satellite deposits.
For EPCs and mining companies, this means electrical design must consider not only current demand but also how the project is likely to change over time.
Where modular substation structures can support mining
Some loads are well defined and expected to stay in one place for decades. Others depend on future mine plans, project phases, or operating conditions that are still changing. In these cases, the value of an infrastructure solution depends not only on its capacity but also on how easily it can be deployed, changed, moved, or reused as the project develops.
SBB’s Modular Substation is a self-supporting aluminium structural system configured around project-specific electrical equipment, layouts and site conditions. It uses SBB’s modular mast sections and can incorporate structural interfaces engineered around specified transformers or other equipment.
The system is designed for temporary, remote, and quick connection needs. Its modular aluminum parts make transport, handling, and assembly easier, and the setup can be planned for future moves or reuse if needed.
For mining projects, this type of structure works best when the electrical setup needs to change as the project develops. It can be used during construction, expansion, in remote areas, for phased development, temporary connections, or in zones where the layout may change over time.
Modularity helps make the structural parts of some electrical infrastructure more flexible as project needs change.
Power planning is becoming part of mine planning
Mining’s changing electrical requirements come from several operational, technological, and infrastructure factors happening at the same time.
Processing still uses a lot of energy. Water infrastructure can create large pumping loads. Underground development affects ventilation, refrigeration, and dewatering. Expansion changes where power is needed. New mineral projects may need entirely new transmission connections. Electrification is shifting some fuel-based demand to the electrical system, while renewable generation, storage, and new procurement models are changing how electricity gets to the mine.
In some areas, limited generation and transmission capacity can restrict future mining growth.
These factors make power infrastructure a key part of mine planning.
For mining companies and EPCs, the goal is to identify which needs are stable enough to design for now and which are likely to change.
This approach lets electrical infrastructure decisions match the mine’s actual development path, not just its starting condition.
As mining relies more on electricity, planning and adapting power infrastructure to changing production, shifting sites, and new supply needs becomes essential for project success. This is why power planning must be part of mine planning, so electrical systems remain flexible and strong enough for both current needs and long-term goals.
Sources and further reading
- International Energy Agency — Global Critical Minerals Outlook 2026: global mineral demand and supply outlook. (iea.org)
- Australian Government — Mining energy-efficiency guidance: comminution, dewatering and major mining energy uses. (energy.gov.au)
- Cochilco — Proyección del Consumo de Energía Eléctrica en la Minería del Cobre 2025–2034: Chilean copper-mining electricity outlook. (cochilco.cl)
- Cochilco — Proyección de la Demanda de Agua en la Minería del Cobre 2025–2034: water and seawater projections. (cochilco.cl)
- Global Mining Guidelines Group: work on battery-electric vehicles in surface mining and associated infrastructure requirements. (gmggroup.org)
- BBA: analysis of underground mine electrification and electrical-distribution requirements. (bbaconsultants.com)
- ABB: underground mine ventilation and energy-management considerations. (new.abb.com)
- Rio Tinto / Yindjibarndi Energy: 2026 Jinbi Solar Project PPA supporting Pilbara mining operations. (riotinto.com)
- BHP Mitsubishi Alliance: 2026 renewable electricity agreements for Australian mining operations. (bhp.com)
- Natural Resources Canada: McIlvenna Bay, Rose Lithium-Tantalum, Dumont and Moblan power-infrastructure projects. (canada.ca)
- Anglo American / Envusa Energy: South African renewable generation, transmission infrastructure and energy-security strategy. (southafrica.angloamerican.com)
- SBB Structures: Modular Substation (https://sbb.ca/modular-substation/ )