Sustainable practices in the management of mining waste: A focus on the mineral resource

Lèbre, Éléonore; Corder, Glen; Golev, Artem

doi:10.1016/j.mineng.2016.12.004

Cited by 117 publications

(42 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…Moreover, they should be used as part of an overall waste management strategy, which also considers beneficial reuse options for nonmineralized mining waste and mine land rehabilitation requirements. Such a strategy is presented in Lèbre and colleagues ().…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Role of the Mining Industry in a Circular Economy: A Framework for Resource Management at the Mine Site Level

Lèbre

Corder

2017

J of Industrial Ecology

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149

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Summary The circular economy (CE) concept advocates drastically reduced primary resource extraction in favor of secondary material flowing through internal loops. However, it is unreasonable to think that society will not need any resources, for example, metals, from mining activities in the short, medium, or longer term. This article explores the role of the mining industry in transitioning to the CE and shows that mines can make significant progress if they apply the CE principles at the mine site level. Circular flows within the economy aim at keeping resources in use for as long as possible and limit final waste disposal. Likewise, operating mines for as long as minerals can be extracted at acceptable environmental costs, thus minimizing the loss of a nonrenewable resource, can be viewed as a contribution of the mining industry to CE objectives. To test this idea, we propose a framework where the conservation of nonrenewable resources is a core concern. The first part establishes a set of material flow indicators relevant to a mine project. The second part considers the entire mine's life cycle, in particular, the consequences of interruptions in activities on material losses. The framework is then illustrated by a case study of the Mount Morgan mine in Australia, where three distinct extractive strategies were applied throughout its history. The results from applying the framework show that proactive and preventive management of mining waste provides significant environmental benefits and generates value from mine waste. These outcomes illustrate that the concept of the CE can be applied in a practical manner to a mining operation.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Role of the Mining Industry in a Circular Economy: A Framework for Resource Management at the Mine Site Level

Lèbre

Corder

2017

J of Industrial Ecology

Self Cite

149

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show abstract

“…In fact, the environmental and legal barriers to primary access to mineral resources within and outside of many countries (with particular reference to the European Union) are increasing, leading to a growing economic value of processing secondary raw materials and re-sampling mining stockpiles and other forms of waste disposals (Tiess, 2010, Blengini et al, 2017. Recently, environmental aspects caused a strong push for more the effective management of stockpiles in many mining sites (Lèbre et al, 2017). Some companies and environmental institutes have developed and put on the market proprietary technology allowing tailings and stockpile remediation that is harmless to humans and environmentally friendly (Knight Piésold Cunsulting, 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Characterization of Metal Grades in a Stockpile of an Iron Mine (Case Study- Choghart Iron Mine, Iran)

Kasmaee

Tinti

Rossion

2018

MGPB

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In any mining operation due to the cut-o grade (economic criteria), materials are classi ed into ore and waste. The material with grade equal to or higher than the cut-o grade is considered as ore and the material with grade less than the cut-o grade is transported as waste to waste dumps. However, because of an increasing metal demand, depletion of in situ ore reserves is occurring and so there is a reduction of cut-o grades for many metals, and the mentioned waste dumps are considered as valuable ore reserves named stockpiles. In this paper, multivariate geostatistics was used to estimate the iron grades of two stockpiles following the sequential piling procedures from the main source -the ore deposit -to the piling eld. One stockpile is characterized by phosphorous concentration ((P %) > 0.6 %), while the other by iron concentration ((Fe %)< 50%). Since economic and physical constraints made sampling physically and economically problematic, the grade distribution and variability were estimated on the basis of primary blast-hole data from the main ore body and the mine's long-term planning policy. A geostatistical model was applied to the excavated part of the iron deposit and by reconstructing ore selection, the haulage and the piling method. Results were validated through spatial variability of iron and phosphorous concentrations by comparing grade variability (Fe and P) with mining and piling units. A comparison of the grade variability has shown that with the same variogram models (with a larger range and smaller variance), the spatial variability of stockpiles have followed the variability of the selected part of the ore body. This point can be used to predict the grade variability of stockpiles from the origin source and the methodology allows characterizing the iron grades within stockpiles without any extra sampling.

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“…by relating mining waste to the industrial system that generates it, and seeking opportunities to recover or prevent mineral losses through waste minimisation. This chapter was the subject of two publications in the journal of Minerals Engineering (Lèbre, Corder & Golev 2016), and in Resources (Lèbre & Corder 2015), and significant parts were extracted from these papers to write this chapter.…”

Section: The Mine Waste Management Hierarchymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Likewise, the 3Rs pyramid places 'reuse' higher than 'recycling' because preserving the integrity and the function of a product is more desirable -and energy efficient -than tearing it apart to recycle its individual elements. The 3Rs pyramid is associated with the biological metaphor definition Lèbre, Corder and Golev (2016) In this section, the four elements of the hierarchy are presented and are based on reviewed public data from mining companies as well as the academic literature. This illustrates the hierarchy with concrete examples and shows how it fits with current waste management practices, available technologies, and recent advancements in research.…”

Section: Development Of the Mine Waste Management Hierarchymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Mine waste or future resource? Integrating industrial ecology thinking into a mining project

Lèbre¹

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Sustainable practices in the management of mining waste: A focus on the mineral resource

Cited by 117 publications

References 42 publications

The Role of the Mining Industry in a Circular Economy: A Framework for Resource Management at the Mine Site Level

The Role of the Mining Industry in a Circular Economy: A Framework for Resource Management at the Mine Site Level

Characterization of Metal Grades in a Stockpile of an Iron Mine (Case Study- Choghart Iron Mine, Iran)

Mine waste or future resource? Integrating industrial ecology thinking into a mining project

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