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Dr Gavin M Mudd Environmental Engineering

Dr Gavin M Mudd Environmental Engineering. Sustainability Metrics of Gold Mining February 2007. Gold …. Gold Mining v Sustainability ?. Define oxymoron : sustainable gold mining Gold mining has been a critical aspect of economic and social development in many countries

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Dr Gavin M Mudd Environmental Engineering

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  1. Dr Gavin M MuddEnvironmental Engineering Sustainability Metrics of Gold Mining February 2007

  2. Gold …

  3. Gold Mining v Sustainability ? • Define oxymoron : sustainable gold mining • Gold mining has been a critical aspect of economic and social development in many countries • Gold mining has also left a legacy of impacts – social, environmental, etc • The application of sustainability principles to gold mining is, at first, counter-intuitive • This paper attempts to compile such data !

  4. Gold Mining & Sustainability Metrics • Data Sources and Methodology • Analysis of Sustainability Metrics • Results – Global Gold Production • Results – Energy, Water and Cyanide Consumption • Results – Greenhouse Emissions • Discussion : Deficiencies, Future Work … • Summary

  5. Analysis of Sustainability Metrics • Some key issues for sustainability include energy, water and cyanide consumption and greenhouse emissions • The ‘eco-efficiency’ of various gold mines is compared using the unit consumption (/emission) per gold produced relative to ore grade and ore throughput : • kL water / kg Au; t CO2 / kg Au; GJ energy / kg Au • kL water / t ore; t CO2 / t ore; GJ energy / t ore • t cyanide / kg Au

  6. Global Historical Gold Production

  7. Global Historical Gold Ore Grades

  8. Unit Water Consumption v Grade

  9. Unit Water Consumption v Ore

  10. Unit Energy Consumption v Grade

  11. Unit Energy Consumption v Ore

  12. Unit Cyanide Consumption v Grade

  13. Unit Greenhouse Emissions v Grade

  14. Unit Greenhouse Emissions v Ore

  15. Discussions & Debates .. • Gold mining has occurred throughout the world, with main factors including : • new discoveries, prices, technology, social, … • The most recent gold boom (>1980) has seen unprecedented global gold mining • Fundamental trends for gold mining : • declining ore grades, open cuts, technology, … • Sustainability metrics, unit consumption/ emissions, are highly grade dependent

  16. Sustainability ‘Costs’ of Gold • In general, based on data within this paper, the production of gold entails :

  17. Summary & Conclusions • Gold Mining continues around the world • Gold ore grades are in terminal decline • Sustainability metrics are clearly linked and very sensitive to ore grade • Due to the low grade, gold production entails significant unit costs for water, energy, cyanide, greenhouse emissions • Future sustainability is difficult to predict …

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