Technology backcasting: Retrospective case studies from mining and mineral processing

A feature of the fourth industrial revolution is the accelerated fusing of various forms of technology, and most sectors of human endeavor continue to seek ways to exploit rapidly evolving technologies to confront the very broad challenges encapsulated in the sustainability imperatives. Amid rapidly changing business models, technology developers, manufacturers, suppliers, and vendors are increasingly challenged to provide proof of concept, commercialize and validate new methods, processes, products and services within shorter time frames. Users acquire and deploy technology as a means to an end; they expect that deployed technology will be utilized to deliver desired outcomes. On the one hand, technology developers, manufacturers, suppliers and vendors are often limited to laboratory demonstrators, factory and prototype testing facilities, whereas full commercialization and acceptance often demands site validation in real world operating environments. On the other hand, users increasingly prefer technology as a service in order to improve business performance, especially in terms of economic, environmental, governance, and social performance metrics. This paper discusses backcasting based on case studies of technology investigations in midstream mining and minerals processing operations