To respond to the increased demand for commodities, increased volumes of primary ores need to be mined. This could lead to major challenges with water and tailings management since ore grades are low and many mining operations take place in high water stress areas. The current mineral processing methods used are highly water intensive and, consequently, there is increasing interest in finding alternative solutions to produce raw material concentrates using little or no water. Dry separation technologies capable of efficient recovery of commodities are relatively rare and highly dependent on the materials to be separated.

Low-grade complex ores require energy-efficient solutions for liberating material. Controlled optimisation of the rock fragmentation chain from blasting to comminution can be seen as a viable option to reduce the need for energy-intensive grinding. Application of pre-concentration methods to remove barren waste prior to grinding, developing cost-efficient and energy-efficient methods for comminution, use of mechanical or chemical pre-treatment methods for modifying the mineral surfaces and replacing water with solvents for leaching are all good tools when considering the change from wet to non-aqueous processing. Nevertheless, considerable multidisciplinary research, along with many new methods and holistic, innovative solutions are required to enable the change.

为了应对商品需求的增加，需要开采更多的原生矿石。这可能会给水资源和尾矿管理带来重大挑战，因为矿石品位低，而且许多采矿作业都在高水资源压力地区进行。当前使用的矿物加工方法耗水量很大，因此，人们越来越关注寻找替代解决方案以使用很少或不使用水来生产原材料精矿。能够有效回收商品的干式分离技术相对较少，并且高度依赖于待分离的材料。

低品位复杂矿石需要节能解决方案来释放材料。从爆破到粉碎的岩石破碎链的可控优化可以被视为减少对能源密集型研磨需求的可行选择。在研磨前应用预浓缩方法去除贫瘠的废物，开发具有成本效益和能源效率的粉碎方法，使用机械或化学预处理方法来改性矿物表面以及用溶剂代替水进行浸出都是好的考虑从湿法到非水法处理的变化时的工具。然而，需要大量的多学科研究，以及许多新方法和整体创新解决方案来实现变革。