Abstract
This study reported life cycle assessment (LCA) of six copper mines in Australia, Papua New Guinea and Portugal. Inventory data was sourced from published papers, sustainability reports by mining companies, independent technical reports and previous CSIRO studies. SimaPro software and various databases were used to evaluate life cycle based environmental impacts. The impact indicators were: global warming potential (GWP), acidification potential, water footprint, ecotoxicity potential, ozone depletion potential and human toxicity potential (carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic), abiotic resource depletion potential (minerals and fossil fuels), particulate matter and ionizing radiation. Generally, open pit mines were found to have a GWP of approximately 1.0 t CO2-eq/t Cu concentrate while underground mines had approximately 1.3 to 1.8 t CO2-eq/t Cu concentrate. Environmental impacts varied between mines considerably due to several factors, most notably: ore grade, mining method, flowsheets and ore mineralogy. Energy consumption and sources were significant contributors to most impact categories.
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Acknowledgements
The authors acknowledge the financial support of CSIRO Mineral Resources through the Environmental LCA project. Input from A Roine (Technology Director, Modelling and Simulation, Outotec) is also greatly appreciated.
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Sikora, W., Saldanha, T., Haque, N. (2018). Evaluation of Variation in the Life Cycle Based Environmental Impacts for Copper Concentrate Production. In: Sun, Z., et al. Energy Technology 2018 . TMS 2018. The Minerals, Metals & Materials Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-72362-4_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-72362-4_5
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