Evaluating Land‐Use Impacts: Selection of Surface Area Metrics for Life‐Cycle Assessment of Mining

Abstract

Keywords environmental performance measurement equivalency factors land-use metrics life-cycle assessment (LCA) life-cycle impact assessment (LCIA) mining e-supplement available on the JIE Web site

Application of life cycle assessment in the mining industry

“…In spite of the low application of life cycle thinking to decision making in the mining industry, some examples of mining LCA studies can be found in the literature (Awuah-Offei et al 2008a, b;Bovea et al 2007;Durucan et al 2006;Mangena and Brent 2006;Spitzley and Tolle 2004;Suppen et al 2006). The goals of these LCAs vary and include estimating land-use equivalency factors (Spitzley and Tolle 2004), identifying high impact processes during mining, treating and marketing of red clay (Bovea et al 2007), evaluating the life cycle environmental impacts of different grades of coal mined with different mining methods (Mangena and Brent 2006), and life cycle environmental impact assessment of mine haulage options in surface mines (Awuah-Offei et al 2008a).…”

“…The goals of these LCAs vary and include estimating land-use equivalency factors (Spitzley and Tolle 2004), identifying high impact processes during mining, treating and marketing of red clay (Bovea et al 2007), evaluating the life cycle environmental impacts of different grades of coal mined with different mining methods (Mangena and Brent 2006), and life cycle environmental impact assessment of mine haulage options in surface mines (Awuah-Offei et al 2008a). The diversity of the motivation behind these studies shows the versatility of the LCA methodology and its potential in the mining industry.…”

“…Like all other life cycle inventories (LCIs), the mining LCIs draw their data from varied sources including company websites and publicly available data (Spitzley and Tolle 2004), detailed surveys and data collection at mine sites (Durucan et al 2006), and industry-wide statistics and government reports (Mangena and Brent 2006;Suppen et al 2006). Based on their developed framework for mining LCA and the corresponding product system (Fig.…”

“…However, various authors have recognized the fact that the standard impact categories (global warming, ozone depletion, human toxicity, fresh water aquatic ecotoxicity, acidification, and eutrophication potential impacts) are not enough to describe the environmental impacts of mining. Land-, water-, and energy-use impacts and resource depletion are some of the impacts that have been suggested as equally important in mining LCA (Durucan et al 2006;Mangena and Brent 2006;Spitzley and Tolle 2004). Spitzley and Tolle (2004) dealt with the issue of land-use impacts in LCA methodology and proposed average lifetime disturbed area per unit of ore production as a measure of land use potential impacts.…”

“…Land-, water-, and energy-use impacts and resource depletion are some of the impacts that have been suggested as equally important in mining LCA (Durucan et al 2006;Mangena and Brent 2006;Spitzley and Tolle 2004). Spitzley and Tolle (2004) dealt with the issue of land-use impacts in LCA methodology and proposed average lifetime disturbed area per unit of ore production as a measure of land use potential impacts. The limitations of this measure include the following: (1) it is difficult to compare systems with different annual disturbed land area (e.g., underground versus surface mining methods), (2) it could potentially under-estimate the effect of land quality, (3) annual disturbed land area tends to vary significantly from year to year, and (4) it does not provide any information on the long-term effects of the land use on the ecosystem.…”