20 - Life cycle assessment of iron ore mining and processing

Abstract

Mining of iron ore is a highly capital- and energy-intensive process. Life cycle assessment (LCA) of the mining and mineral processing of iron ore in Australia was carried out in this chapter using SimaPro LCA software as a case study. The environmental impacts considered in the study were embodied energy and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, while the functional unit was 1t of iron ore, ready for transport to downstream metal extraction and refining facilities. Inventory data for these processing stages were calculated by the authors. The estimated GHG emissions were 11.9kg CO2e for mining and processing 1t of iron ore. The embodied energy values were 153MJ/t ore for iron ore. The results showed that loading and hauling made the largest contributions (approximately 50%) to the total GHG emissions from the mining and processing of iron ore. These results indicate that efforts to reduce the GHG footprint of iron ore should focus on loading and hauling stages. Further advances in diesel engine technology for loading and hauling applications could be expected to assist into reducing the carbon and energy footprints of iron ore mining.