Life cycle assessment of mine tailings management in Canada |
| |
| Authors: | Catherine Reid Valérie Bécaert Michel Aubertin Ralph K Rosenbaum Louise Deschênes |
| |
| Institution: | 1. CIRAIG-Interuniversity Research Centre for the Life Cycle of Products, Processes and Services, École Polytechnique de Montréal, P.O. Box 6079, Station Centre-Ville, Montréal, Quebec, H3C 3A7, Canada;2. Industrial NSERC Polytechnique-UQAT Chair, Environment and Mine Wastes Management, École Polytechnique de Montréal, P.O. Box 6079, Station Centre-Ville, Montréal, Quebec, H3C 3A7, Canada;1. Centre for Mined Land Rehabilitation, Sustainable Minerals Institute, University of Queensland, Level 5, Sir James Foots Building (47A), St Lucia, QLD 4072, Australia;2. Julius Kruttschnitt Mineral Research Centre, Sustainable Minerals Institute, University of Queensland, Indooroopilly, QLD 4068, Australia;3. Centre for Social Responsibility in Mining, Sustainable Minerals Institute, University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD 4072, Australia;4. Sustainable Minerals Institute, University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD 4072, Australia;1. Technological University of Pereira, Pereira, Colombia;2. Federal University of Santa Catarina, Florianópolis, Brazil;3. Tractebel Energia, Capivari de Baixo, Brazil;1. Institut de Recherche en Mines et en Environnement, Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue 445, Boul. de l’Université, Rouyn-Noranda, Québec J9X 5E4, Canada;2. Département de Génie Civil et de Génie des Eaux, Pavillon Adrien-Pouliot, 1065, avenue de la Médecine, Université Laval, Québec (QC), G1V 0A6, Canada;3. Glencore, Mine Raglan Katinniq, Québec, Canada;1. School of Civil, Environmental and Mining Engineering, University of Western Australia, Perth 6009, Australia;2. School of Resources and Safety Engineering, Central South University, Changsha 410083, China |
| |
| Abstract: | The effective management of mine tailings involves the control of several environmental impacts and legal requirements. Six tailings site management and closure scenarios were developed for a copper zinc underground mine located in Quebec (Canada) and compared using life cycle assessment (LCA). Two options are considered for the mine operation: tailings can be sent to the tailings disposal area where they are submerged or they can be partly used for backfilling. For each of these two operation options, three alternatives are presented for mine closure: (a) submerged tailings, (b) partial desulphurization with a cover of desulphurized material and (c) a cover with capillary barrier effects (CCBE) made of natural soils followed by revegetation. The goals of the study were to draw the inventory of these management scenarios from the development to the post-closure phase, to assess and compare their environmental impacts and to determine the importance of the land-use impact category. The potential impacts for each scenario were evaluated using the IMPACT 2002+ LCIA method. The results of the performed LCA indicate that for mine development and operation, scenarios where tailings are partly used as backfill for underground stopes appear to lead to larger impacts in 11 of the 14 midpoint categories since the backfill plant operation consumes a greater amount of material and energy. For a site closure period of 2 years, the CCBE option creates the greatest impacts, since it requires much more effort than the other techniques. The results for the post-closure phase have been analysed separately since they have a larger uncertainty. They appear to modify the comparative assessment results. The various results presented in the paper show the importance of taking land-use impacts into account. |
| |
| Keywords: | |
| 本文献已被 ScienceDirect 等数据库收录！ |
|
