TY - JOUR

T1 - Metal Mining’s Environmental Pressures: A Review and Updated Estimates on CO2 Emissions,Water Use, and Land Requirements

AU - Tost, Michael

AU - Bayer, Benjamin

AU - Hitch, Michael

AU - Lutter, Stephan

AU - Moser, Peter

AU - Feiel, Susanne

PY - 2018/8/14

Y1 - 2018/8/14

N2 - The significant increase in metal mining and the inevitability of the continuation of thistrend suggests that environmental pressures, as well as related impacts, have become an issue ofglobal relevance. Yet the scale of the impact remains, to a large extent, unknown. This paper examinesthe mining sector’s demands on CO2 emissions, water use, as well as demands on land use focusingon four principal metals: iron, aluminium (i.e., bauxite ore), copper, and gold. These materialsrepresent a large proportion of all metallic materials mined in terms of crude tonnage and economicvalue. This paper examines how the main providers of mining data, the United Nations, governmentsources of some main metal producing and consuming countries, the scientific literature, and companyreports report environmental pressures in these three areas. The authors conclude that, in the globalcontext, the pressure brought about by metal mining is relatively low. The data on this subject are stillvery limited and there are significant gaps in consistency on criteria such as boundary descriptions,input parameter definitions, and allocation method descriptions as well as a lack of commodityand/or site specific reporting of environmental data at a company level.

AB - The significant increase in metal mining and the inevitability of the continuation of thistrend suggests that environmental pressures, as well as related impacts, have become an issue ofglobal relevance. Yet the scale of the impact remains, to a large extent, unknown. This paper examinesthe mining sector’s demands on CO2 emissions, water use, as well as demands on land use focusingon four principal metals: iron, aluminium (i.e., bauxite ore), copper, and gold. These materialsrepresent a large proportion of all metallic materials mined in terms of crude tonnage and economicvalue. This paper examines how the main providers of mining data, the United Nations, governmentsources of some main metal producing and consuming countries, the scientific literature, and companyreports report environmental pressures in these three areas. The authors conclude that, in the globalcontext, the pressure brought about by metal mining is relatively low. The data on this subject are stillvery limited and there are significant gaps in consistency on criteria such as boundary descriptions,input parameter definitions, and allocation method descriptions as well as a lack of commodityand/or site specific reporting of environmental data at a company level.

KW - mining; gold; bauxite; copper; iron ore; environmental pressure; CO2; water; land use

U2 - 10.3390/su10082881

DO - 10.3390/su10082881

M3 - Article

VL - 2018

JO - Sustainability / Molecular Diversity Preservation International (MDPI)

JF - Sustainability / Molecular Diversity Preservation International (MDPI)

SN - 2071-1050

IS - 10

M1 - 2881

ER -