The Anatomy of a Mine - Mining and the Environment: From Ore to Metal - page 162

FIGURE 4.1
The Mining Life-cycle

Return to the
environment

The three main phases of environ-
mental concerns are exploration
(site access, drilling, and sampling),
production (mining and mine waste
management), and mine closure
(decommissioning and rehabilitation).
Source:
Concept for the schematic is drawn from
MMSD 2002

Minerals Cycle

Handover
of land for
other uses

Society's need
for minerals
and metals

Disposal

Post closure
mine
management

Genesis of mineral deposit

Re-use

Exploration

Consumption/
use

Economic, environmental
and technical assessment

Mining Cycle

Engineering, procurement,
Construction

Mine
closure and
rehabilitation

Re-manufacture

Topsoil and
overburden removal

Incorporation
into products

Recycling

Extraction
mining

Mine waste
management

Wastes

Semi-fabrication
and fabrication

Milling, washing,
grading,
concentrating

Extractive
metallurgy
and refining

Some industrial
minerals sold directly
(such as salt and sand)

Emissions

operations place emphasis on closing this circle, with the i nal activity being rehabilitation
of the mine site. As a consequence, rehabilitation is a serious consideration in the initial
operations planning.
The mining cycle begins with our need for minerals and metals, and nature's distribu-
tion of these elements in the Earth's crust, the ore genesis. Human activities in the mining
life-cycle then typically include (modii ed from UNEP and IFA 2001):
●

Exploration - prospecting and exploration to identify potential economic mineral
deposits. By dei nition exploration is a forerunner to mining, but it often continues
throughout the mine operation stage and even beyond, usually at a smaller scale;

●

Economic, environmental, and technical assessment - assessing the mineral deposit to
determine whether it can be economically extracted and processed under current and
predicted future market conditions at an acceptable economic and environmental cost;

●

Engineering, procurement, and construction - design, planning and construction of
the mine, ore handling and processing plant, together with associated infrastructure
such as roads, power generation facilities, workforce accommodations and ports;

●

Mining itself - involving removal of overburden, and waste rock in open pits and exca-
vation of underground declines, shafts and tunnels to access deeper ore bodies; extract-
ing ore; and transportation of ore from mine to benei ciation plant;

●

Milling, washing, grading, and concentrating - benei ciation and primary processing
of the ore to produce a concentrated product;