Description: technologyComment of gold mine operation and refining (SE): OPEN PIT MINING: The ore is mined in four steps: drilling, blasting, loading and hauling. In the case of a surface mine, a pattern of holes is drilled in the pit and filled with explosives. The explosives are detonated in order to break up the ground so large shovels or front-end loaders can load it into haul trucks. ORE AND WASTE HAULAGE: The haul trucks transport the ore to various areas for processing. The grade and type of ore determine the processing method used. Higher-grade ores are taken to a mill. Lower grade ores are taken to leach pads. Some ores may be stockpiled for later processing. HEAP LEACHING: The ore is crushed or placed directly on lined leach pads where a dilute cyanide solution is applied to the surface of the heap. The solution percolates down through the ore, where it leaches the gold and flows to a central collection location. The solution is recovered in this closed system. The pregnant leach solution is fed to electrowinning cells and undergoes the same steps as described below from Electro-winning. ORE PROCESSING: Milling: The ore is fed into a series of grinding mills where steel balls grind the ore to a fine slurry or powder. Oxidization and leaching: Some types of ore require further processing before gold is recovered. In this case, the slurry is pressure-oxidized in an autoclave before going to the leaching tanks or a dry powder is fed through a roaster in which it is oxidized using heat before being sent to the leaching tanks as a slurry. The slurry is thickened and runs through a series of leaching tanks. The gold in the slurry adheres to carbon in the tanks. Stripping: The carbon is then moved into a stripping vessel where the gold is removed from the carbon by pumping a hot caustic solution through the carbon. The carbon is later recycled. Electro-winning: The gold-bearing solution is pumped through electro-winning cells or through a zinc precipitation circuit where the gold is recovered from the solution. Smelting: The gold is then melted in a furnace at about 1’064°C and poured into moulds, creating doré bars. Doré bars are unrefined gold bullion bars containing between 60% and 95% gold. References: Newmont (2004) How gold is mined. Newmont. Retrieved from http://www.newmont.com/en/gold/howmined/index.asp technologyComment of gold production (US): OPEN PIT MINING: The ore is mined in four steps: drilling, blasting, loading and hauling. In the case of a surface mine, a pattern of holes is drilled in the pit and filled with explosives. The explosives are detonated in order to break up the ground so large shovels or front-end loaders can load it into haul trucks. UNDERGROUND MINING: Some ore bodies are more economically mined underground. In this case, a tunnel called an adit or a shaft is dug into the earth. Sort tunnels leading from the adit or shaft, called stopes, are dug to access the ore. The surface containing the ore, called a face, is drilled and loaded with explosives. Following blasting, the broken ore is loaded onto electric trucks and taken to the surface. Once mining is completed in a particular stope, it is backfilled with a cement compound. BENEFICIATION: Bald Mountain Mines: The ore treatment method is based on conventional heap leaching technology followed by carbon absorption. The loaded carbon is stripped and refined in the newly commissioned refinery on site. Water is supplied by wells located on the mine property. Grid power was brought to Bald Mountain Mine in 1996. For this purpose, one 27-kilometre 69 KVA power line was constructed from the Alligator Ridge Mine substation to the grid. Golden Sunlight Mines: The ore treatment plant is based on conventional carbon-in-pulp technology, with the addition of a Sand Tailings Retreatment (STR) gold recovery plant to recover gold that would otherwise be lost to tailings. The STR circuit removes the heavier gold bearing pyrite from the sand portion of the tailings by gravity separation. The gold is refined into doré at the mine. Tailing from the mill is discharged to an impoundment area where the solids are allowed to settle so the water can be reused. A cyanide recovery/destruction process was commissioned in 1998. It eliminates the hazard posed to wildlife at the tailings impoundment by lowering cyanide concentrations below 20 mg/l. Fresh water for ore processing, dust suppression, and fire control is supplied from the Jefferson Slough, which is an old natural channel of the Jefferson River. Ore processing also uses water pumped from the tailings impoundment. Pit water is treated in a facility located in the mill complex prior to disposal or for use in dust control. Drinking water is made available by filtering fresh water through an on-site treatment plant. Electric power is provided from a substation at the south property boundary. North-Western Energy supplies electricity the substation. Small diesel generators are used for emergency lighting. A natural gas pipeline supplies gas for heating buildings, a crusher, air scrubber, boiler, carbon reactivation kiln, and refining furnaces. Cortez Mine: Three different metallurgical processes are employed for the recovery of gold. The process used for a particular ore is determined based on grade and metallurgical character of that ore. Lower grade oxide ore is heap leached, while higher-grade non-refractory ore is treated in a conventional mill using cyanidation and a carbon-in-leach (“CIL”) process. When carbonaceous ore is processed by Barrick, it is first dry ground, and then oxidized in a circulating fluid bed roaster, followed by CIL recovery. In 2002 a new leach pad and process plant was commissioned; this plant is capable of processing 164 million tonnes of heap leach ore over the life of the asset. Heap leach ore production is hauled directly to heap leach pads for gold recovery. Water for process use is supplied from the open pit dewatering system. Approximately 90 litres per second of the pit dewatering volume is diverted for plant use. Electric power is supplied by Sierra Pacific Power Company (“SPPC”) through a 73 kilometre, 120 kV transmission line. A long-term agreement is in place with SPPC to provide power through the regulated power system. The average power requirement of the mine is about 160 GWh/year. REFINING: Wohlwill electrolysis. It is assumed that the gold doré-bars from both mines undergo the treatment of Wohlwill electrolysis. This process uses an electrolyte containing 2.5 mol/l of HCl and 2 mol/l of HAuCl4 acid. Electrolysis is carried out with agitation at 65 – 75 °C. The raw gold is intro-duced as cast anode plates. The cathodes, on which the pure gold is deposited, were for many years made of fine gold of 0.25 mm thickness. These have now largely been replaced by sheet titanium or tantalum cathodes, from which the thick layer of fine gold can be peeled off. In a typical electrolysis cell, gold anodes weighing 12 kg and having dimensions 280×230×12 mm (0.138 m2 surface) are used. Opposite to them are conductively connected cathode plates, arranged by two or three on a support rail. One cell normally contains five or six cathode units and four or five anodes. The maximum cell voltage [V] is 1.5 V and the maximum anodic current density [A] 1500 A/m2. The South African Rand refinery gives a specific gold production rate of 0.2 kg per hour Wohlwill electrolysis. Assuming a current efficiency of 95% the energy consumption is [V] x [A] / 0.2 [kg/h] = 1.63 kWh per kg gold refined. No emissions are assumed because of the purity and the high value of the material processed. The resulting sludge contains the PGM present in the electric scrap and is sold for further processing. OTHER MINES: Information about the technology used in the remaining mines is described in the References. WATER EMISSIONS: Water effluents are discharged into rivers. References: Auerswald D. A. and Radcliffe P. H. (2005) Process technology development at Rand Refinery. In: Minerals Engineering, 18(8), pp. 748-753, Online-Version under: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.mineng.2005.03.011. Newmont (2004) How gold is mined. Newmont. Retrieved from http://www.newmont.com/en/gold/howmined/index.asp Renner H., Schlamp G., Hollmann D., Lüschow H. M., Rothaut J., Knödler A., Hecht C., Schlott M., Drieselmann R., Peter C. and Schiele R. (2002) Gold, Gold Alloys, and Gold Compounds. In: Ullmann's Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry. Online version, posting date: September 15, 2000 Edition. Wiley-Interscience, Online-Version under: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/14356007.a12_ 499. Barrick (2006b) Environment: Performance Tables from http://www.barrick. com/Default.aspx?SectionID=8906c4bd-4ee4-4f15-bf1b-565e357c01e1& LanguageId=1 Newmont (2005b) Now & Beyond: Sustainability Reports. Newmont Mining Corporation. Retrieved from http://www.newmont.com/en/social/reporting/ index.asp technologyComment of gold production (CA): OPEN PIT MINING: The ore is mined in four steps: drilling, blasting, loading and hauling. In the case of a surface mine, a pattern of holes is drilled in the pit and filled with explosives. The explosives are detonated in order to break up the ground so large shovels or front-end loaders can load it into haul trucks. UNDERGROUND MINING: Some ore bodies are more economically mined underground. In this case, a tunnel called an adit or a shaft is dug into the earth. Sort tunnels leading from the adit or shaft, called stopes, are dug to access the ore. The surface containing the ore, called a face, is drilled and loaded with explosives. Following blasting, the broken ore is loaded onto electric trucks and taken to the surface. Once mining is completed in a particular stope, it is backfilled with a cement compound. ORE AND WASTE HAULAGE: The haul trucks transport the ore to various areas for processing. The grade and type of ore determine the processing method used. Higher-grade ores are taken to a mill. Lower grade ores are taken to leach pads. Some ores may be stockpiled for later processing. BENEFICIATION: In the Porcupine Mines, gold is recovered using a combination of gravity concentration, milling and cyanidation techniques. The milling process consists of primary crushing, secondary crushing, rod/ball mill grinding, gravity concentration, cyanide leaching, carbon-in-pulp gold recovery, stripping, electrowinning and refining. In the Campbell Mine, the ore from the mine, after crushing and grinding, is processed by gravity separation, flotation, pressure oxidation, cyanidation and carbon-in-pulp process followed by electro-winning and gold refining to doré on site. The Musselwhite Mine uses gravity separation, carbon in pulp, electro¬winning and gold refining to doré on site. REFINING: Wohlwill electrolysis. It is assumed that the gold doré-bars from both mines undergo the treatment of Wohlwill electrolysis. This process uses an electrolyte containing 2.5 mol/l of HCl and 2 mol/l of HAuCl4 acid. Electrolysis is carried out with agitation at 65 – 75 °C. The raw gold is intro-duced as cast anode plates. The cathodes, on which the pure gold is deposited, were for many years made of fine gold of 0.25 mm thickness. These have now largely been replaced by sheet titanium or tantalum cathodes, from which the thick layer of fine gold can be peeled off. In a typical electrolysis cell, gold anodes weighing 12 kg and having dimensions 280×230×12 mm (0.138 m2 surface) are used. Opposite to them are conductively connected cathode plates, arranged by two or three on a support rail. One cell normally contains five or six cathode units and four or five anodes. The maximum cell voltage [V] is 1.5 V and the maximum anodic current density [A] 1500 A/m2. The South African Rand refinery gives a specific gold production rate of 0.2 kg per hour Wohlwill electrolysis. Assuming a current efficiency of 95% the energy consumption is [V] x [A] / 0.2 [kg/h] = 1.63 kWh per kg gold refined. No emissions are assumed because of the purity and the high value of the material processed. The resulting sludge contains the PGM present in the electric scrap and is sold for further processing. WATER EMISSIONS: Effluents are discharged into the ocean. REFERENCES: Newmont (2004) How gold is mined. Newmont. Retrieved from http://www.newmont.com/en/gold/howmined/index.asp Renner H., Schlamp G., Hollmann D., Lüschow H. M., Rothaut J., Knödler A., Hecht C., Schlott M., Drieselmann R., Peter C. and Schiele R. (2002) Gold, Gold Alloys, and Gold Compounds. In: Ullmann's Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry. Online version, posting date: September 15, 2000 Edition. Wiley-Interscience, Online-Version under: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/14356007.a12_ 499. Auerswald D. A. and Radcliffe P. H. (2005) Process technology development at Rand Refinery. In: Minerals Engineering, 18(8), pp. 748-753, Online-Version under: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.mineng.2005.03.011. technologyComment of gold production (AU): OPEN PIT MINING: The ore is mined in four steps: drilling, blasting, loading and hauling. In the case of a surface mine, a pattern of holes is drilled in the pit and filled with explosives. The explosives are detonated in order to break up the ground so large shovels or front-end loaders can load it into haul trucks. UNDERGROUND MINING: Some ore bodies are more economically mined underground. In this case, a tunnel called an adit or a shaft is dug into the earth. Sort tunnels leading from the adit or shaft, called stopes, are dug to access the ore. The surface containing the ore, called a face, is drilled and loaded with explosives. Following blasting, the broken ore is loaded onto electric trucks and taken to the surface. Once mining is completed in a particular stope, it is backfilled with a cement compound. ORE AND WASTE HAULAGE: The haul trucks transport the ore to various areas for processing. The grade and type of ore determine the processing method used. Higher-grade ores are taken to a mill. Lower grade ores are taken to leach pads. Some ores may be stockpiled for later processing. LEACHING: The ore is crushed or placed directly on lined leach pads where a dilute cyanide solution is applied to the surface of the heap. The solution percolates down through the ore, where it leaches the gold and flows to a central collection location. The solution is recovered in this closed system. The pregnant leach solution is fed to electrowinning cells and undergoes the same steps as described below from Electro-winning. ORE PROCESSING: Milling: The ore is fed into a series of grinding mills where steel balls grind the ore to a fine slurry or powder. Oxidization and leaching: Some types of ore require further processing before gold is recovered. In this case, the slurry is pressure-oxidized in an autoclave before going to the leaching tanks or a dry powder is fed through a roaster in which it is oxidized using heat before being sent to the leaching tanks as a slurry. The slurry is thickened and runs through a series of leaching tanks. The gold in the slurry adheres to carbon in the tanks. Stripping: The carbon is then moved into a stripping vessel where the gold is removed from the carbon by pumping a hot caustic solution through the carbon. The carbon is later recycled. Electro-winning: The gold-bearing solution is pumped through electro-winning cells or through a zinc precipitation circuit where the gold is recovered from the solution. Smelting: The gold is then melted in a furnace at about 1’064°C and poured into moulds, creating doré bars. Doré bars are unrefined gold bullion bars containing between 60% and 95% gold. REFINING: Wohlwill electrolysis. It is assumed that the gold doré-bars from both mines undergo the treatment of Wohlwill electrolysis. This process uses an electrolyte containing 2.5 mol/l of HCl and 2 mol/l of HAuCl4 acid. Electrolysis is carried out with agitation at 65 – 75 °C. The raw gold is intro-duced as cast anode plates. The cathodes, on which the pure gold is deposited, were for many years made of fine gold of 0.25 mm thickness. These have now largely been replaced by sheet titanium or tantalum cathodes, from which the thick layer of fine gold can be peeled off. In a typical electrolysis cell, gold anodes weighing 12 kg and having dimensions 280×230×12 mm (0.138 m2 surface) are used. Opposite to them are conductively connected cathode plates, arranged by two or three on a support rail. One cell normally contains five or six cathode units and four or five anodes. The maximum cell voltage [V] is 1.5 V and the maximum anodic current density [A] 1500 A/m2. The South African Rand refinery gives a specific gold production rate of 0.2 kg per hour Wohlwill electrolysis. Assuming a current efficiency of 95% the energy consumption is [V] x [A] / 0.2 [kg/h] = 1.63 kWh per kg gold refined. No emissions are assumed because of the purity and the high value of the material processed. The resulting sludge contains the PGM present in the electric scrap and is sold for further processing. WATER EMISSIONS: Water effluents are discharged into rivers. REFERENCES: Newmont (2004) How gold is mined. Newmont. Retrieved from http://www.newmont.com/en/gold/howmined/index.asp Renner H., Schlamp G., Hollmann D., Lüschow H. M., Rothaut J., Knödler A., Hecht C., Schlott M., Drieselmann R., Peter C. and Schiele R. (2002) Gold, Gold Alloys, and Gold Compounds. In: Ullmann's Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry. Online version, posting date: September 15, 2000 Edition. Wiley-Interscience, Online-Version under: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/14356007.a12_ 499. Auerswald D. A. and Radcliffe P. H. (2005) Process technology development at Rand Refinery. In: Minerals Engineering, 18(8), pp. 748-753, Online-Version under: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.mineng.2005.03.011. technologyComment of gold production (TZ): The mining of ore from open pit and underground mines is considered. technologyComment of gold refinery operation (ZA): REFINING: The refinery, which provides a same day refining service, employs the widely used Miller Chlorination Process to upgrade the gold bullion it receives from mines to at least 99.50% fine gold, the minimum standard required for gold sold on the world bullion markets. It also employs the world’s leading silver refining technology. To further refine gold and silver to 99.99% the cost-effective once-through Wohlwill electrolytic refining process is used. MILLER CHLORINATION PROCESS: This is a pyrometallurgical process whereby gold dore is heated in furnace crucibles. The process is able to separate gold from impurities by using chlorine gas which is added to the crucibles once the gold is molten. Chlorine gas does not react with gold but will combine with silver and base metals to form chlorides. Once the chlorides have formed they float to the surface as slag or escape as volatile gases. The surface melt and the fumes containing the impurities are collected and further refined to extract the gold and silver. This process can take up to 90 minutes produces gold which is at least 99.5% pure with silver being the main remaining component. This gold can be cast into bars as 99.5% gold purity meets the minimum London Good Delivery. However some customers such as jewellers and other industrial end users require gold that is almost 100% pure, so further refining is necessary. In this case, gold using the Miller process is cast into anodes which are then sent to an electrolytic plant. The final product is 99.99% pure gold sponge that can then be melted to produce various end products suited to the needs of the customer. WOHLWILL PROCESS - The electrolytic method of gold refining was first developed by Dr. Emil Wohlwill of Norddeutsche Affinerie in Hamburg in 1874. Dr. Wohlwill’s process is based on the solubility of gold but the insolubility of silver in an electrolyte solution of gold chloride (AuCl3) in hydrochloric acid. Figure below provide the overview of the refining process (source Rand Refinery Brochure) imageUrlTagReplace7f46a8e2-2df0-4cf4-99a8-2878640be562 Emissions includes also HCl to air: 7.48e-03 Calculated from rand refinery scrubber and baghouse emmission values Metal concentrators, Emmision report 2016 http://www.environmentalconsultants.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Appendix-D1.pdf technologyComment of gold refinery operation (RoW): REFINING: The refinery, which provides a same day refining service, employs the widely used Miller Chlorination Process to upgrade the gold bullion it receives from mines to at least 99.50% fine gold, the minimum standard required for gold sold on the world bullion markets. It also employs the world’s leading silver refining technology. To further refine gold and silver to 99.99% the cost-effective once-through Wohlwill electrolytic refining process is used. MILLER CHLORINATION PROCESS: This is a pyrometallurgical process whereby gold dore is heated in furnace crucibles. The process is able to separate gold from impurities by using chlorine gas which is added to the crucibles once the gold is molten. Chlorine gas does not react with gold but will combine with silver and base metals to form chlorides. Once the chlorides have formed they float to the surface as slag or escape as volatile gases. The surface melt and the fumes containing the impurities are collected and further refined to extract the gold and silver. This process can take up to 90 minutes produces gold which is at least 99.5% pure with silver being the main remaining component. This gold can be cast into bars as 99.5% gold purity meets the minimum London Good Delivery. However some customers such as jewellers and other industrial end users require gold that is almost 100% pure, so further refining is necessary. In this case, gold using the Miller process is cast into anodes which are then sent to an electrolytic plant. The final product is 99.99% pure gold sponge that can then be melted to produce various end products suited to the needs of the customer. WOHLWILL PROCESS - The electrolytic method of gold refining was first developed by Dr. Emil Wohlwill of Norddeutsche Affinerie in Hamburg in 1874. Dr. Wohlwill’s process is based on the solubility of gold but the insolubility of silver in an electrolyte solution of gold chloride (AuCl3) in hydrochloric acid. Figure below provide the overview of the refining process (source Rand Refinery Brochure) imageUrlTagReplace7f46a8e2-2df0-4cf4-99a8-2878640be562 Emissions includes also HCl to air: 7.48e-03 Calculated from rand refinery scrubber and baghouse emmission values Metal concentrators, Emmision report 2016 http://www.environmentalconsultants.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Appendix-D1.pdf technologyComment of gold-silver mine operation with refinery (PG): OPEN PIT MINING: The ore is mined in four steps: drilling, blasting, loading and hauling. In the case of a surface mine, a pattern of holes is drilled in the pit and filled with explosives. The explosives are detonated in order to break up the ground so large shovels or front-end loaders can load it into haul trucks. ORE AND WASTE HAULAGE: The haul trucks transport the ore to various areas for processing. The grade and type of ore determine the processing method used. Higher-grade ores are taken to a mill. Lower grade ores are taken to leach pads. Some ores may be stockpiled for later processing. HEAP LEACHING: The recovery processes of the Misima Mine are cyanide leach and carbon in pulp (CIP). The ore is crushed or placed directly on lined leach pads where a dilute cyanide solution is applied to the surface of the heap. The solution percolates down through the ore, where it leaches the gold and flows to a central collection location. The solution is recovered in this closed system. The pregnant leach solution is fed to electrowinning cells and undergoes the same steps as described below from Electro-winning. ORE PROCESSING: Milling: The ore is fed into a series of grinding mills where steel balls grind the ore to a fine slurry or powder. Oxidization and leaching: The recovery process in the Porgera Mine is pressure oxidation and cyanide leach. The slurry is pressure-oxidized in an autoclave before going to the leaching tanks or a dry powder is fed through a roaster in which it is oxidized using heat before being sent to the leaching tanks as a slurry. The slurry is thickened and runs through a series of leaching tanks. The gold in the slurry adheres to carbon in the tanks. Stripping: The carbon is then moved into a stripping vessel where the gold is removed from the carbon by pumping a hot caustic solution through the carbon. The carbon is later recycled. Electro-winning: The gold-bearing solution is pumped through electro-winning cells or through a zinc precipitation circuit where the gold is recovered from the solution. Smelting: The gold is then melted in a furnace at about 1’064°C and poured into moulds, creating doré bars. Doré bars are unrefined gold bullion bars containing between 60% and 95% gold. WATER SUPPLY: For Misima Mine, process water is supplied from pit dewatering bores and in-pit water. Potable water is sourced from boreholes in the coastal limestone. For Porgera Mine, the main water supply of the mine is the Waile Creek Dam, located approximately 7 kilometres from the mine. The reservoir has a capacity of approximately 717, 000 m3 of water. Water for the grinding circuit is also extracted from Kogai Creek, which is located adjacent to the grinding circuit. The mine operates four water treatment plants for potable water and five sewage treatment plants. ENERGY SUPPLY: For Misima Mine, electricity is produced by the mine on site or with own power generators, from diesel and heavy fuel oil. For Porgera Mine, electricity is produced by the mine on site. Assumed with Mobius / Wohlwill electrolysis. Porgera's principal source of power is supplied by a 73-kilometre transmission line from the gas fired and PJV-owned Hides Power Station. The station has a total output of 62 megawatts (“MW”). A back up diesel power station is located at the mine and has an output of 13MW. The average power requirement of the mine is about 60 MW. For both Misima and Porgera Mines, an 18 MW diesel fired power station supplies electrical power. Diesel was used in the station due to the unavailability of previously supplied heavy fuel oil. technologyComment of gold-silver mine operation with refinery (CA-QC): One of the modelled mine is an open-pit mine and the two others are underground. technologyComment of gold-silver mine operation with refinery (RoW): The mining of ore from open pit mines is considered. technologyComment of platinum group metal, extraction and refinery operations (ZA): The ores from the different ore bodies are processed in concentrators where a PGM concentrate is produced with a tailing by product. The PGM base metal concentrate product from the different concentrators processing the different ores are blended during the smelting phase to balance the sulphur content in the final matte product. Smelter operators also carry out toll smelting from third part concentrators. The smelter product is send to the Base metal refinery where the PGMs are separated from the Base Metals. Precious metal refinery is carried out on PGM concentrate from the Base metal refinery to split the PGMs into individual metal products. Water analyses measurements for Anglo Platinum obtained from literature (Slatter et.al, 2009). Mudd, G., 2010. Platinum group metals: a unique case study in the sustainability of mineral resources, in: The 4th International Platinum Conference, Platinum in Transition “Boom or Bust.” Water share between MC and EC from Mudd (2010). Mudd, G., 2010. Platinum group metals: a unique case study in the sustainability of mineral resources, in: The 4th International Platinum Conference, Platinum in Transition “Boom or Bust.” technologyComment of primary zinc production from concentrate (RoW): The technological representativeness of this dataset is considered to be high as smelting methods for zinc are consistent in all regions. Refined zinc produced pyro-metallurgically represents less than 5% of global zinc production and less than 2% of this dataset. Electrometallurgical Smelting The main unit processes for electrometallurgical zinc smelting are roasting, leaching, purification, electrolysis, and melting. In both electrometallurgical and pyro-metallurgical zinc production routes, the first step is to remove the sulfur from the concentrate. Roasting or sintering achieves this. The concentrate is heated in a furnace with operating temperature above 900 °C (exothermic, autogenous process) to convert the zinc sulfide to calcine (zinc oxide). Simultaneously, sulfur reacts with oxygen to produce sulfur dioxide, which is subsequently converted to sulfuric acid in acid plants, usually located with zinc-smelting facilities. During the leaching process, the calcine is dissolved in dilute sulfuric acid solution (re-circulated back from the electrolysis cells) to produce aqueous zinc sulfate solution. The iron impurities dissolve as well and are precipitated out as jarosite or goethite in the presence of calcine and possibly ammonia. Jarosite and goethite are usually disposed of in tailing ponds. Adding zinc dust to the zinc sulfate solution facilitates purification. The purification of leachate leads to precipitation of cadmium, copper, and cobalt as metals. In electrolysis, the purified solution is electrolyzed between lead alloy anodes and aluminum cathodes. The high-purity zinc deposited on aluminum cathodes is stripped off, dried, melted, and cast into SHG zinc ingots (99.99 % zinc). Pyro-metallurgical Smelting The pyro-metallurgical smelting process is based on the reduction of zinc and lead oxides into metal with carbon in an imperial smelting furnace. The sinter, along with pre-heated coke, is charged from the top of the furnace and injected from below with pre-heated air. This ensures that temperature in the center of the furnace remains in the range of 1000-1500 °C. The coke is converted to carbon monoxide, and zinc and lead oxides are reduced to metallic zinc and lead. The liquid lead bullion is collected at the bottom of the furnace along with other metal impurities (copper, silver, and gold). Zinc in vapor form is collected from the top of the furnace along with other gases. Zinc vapor is then condensed into liquid zinc. The lead and cadmium impurities in zinc bullion are removed through a distillation process. The imperial smelting process is an energy-intensive process and produces zinc of lower purity than the electrometallurgical process. technologyComment of processing of anode slime from electrorefining of copper, anode (GLO): Based on typical current technology. Anode slime treatment by pressure leaching and top blown rotary converter. Production of Silver by Möbius Electrolysis, Gold by Wohlwill electrolysis, copper telluride cement and crude selenium to further processing. technologyComment of silver-gold mine operation with refinery (CL): OPEN PIT MINING: The ore is mined in four steps: drilling, blasting, loading and hauling. In the case of a surface mine, a pattern of holes is drilled in the pit and filled with explosives. The explosives are detonated in order to break up the ground so large shovels or front-end loaders can load it into haul trucks. BENEFICIATION: The processing plant consists of primary crushing, a pre-crushing circuit, (semi autogenous ball mill crushing) grinding, leaching, filtering and washing, Merrill-Crowe plant and doré refinery. The Merrill-Crowe metal recovery circuit is better than a carbon-in-pulp system for the high-grade silver material. Tailings are filtered to recover excess water as well as residual cyanide and metals. A dry tailings disposal system was preferred to a conventional wet tailings impoundment because of site-specific environmental considerations. technologyComment of silver-gold mine operation with refinery (RoW): Refinement is estimated with electrolysis-data. technologyComment of treatment of precious metal from electronics scrap, in anode slime, precious metal extraction (SE, RoW): Anode slime treatment by pressure leaching and top blown rotary converter. Production of Silver by Möbius Electrolysis, Gold by Wohlwill electrolysis, Palladium to further processing
Types:
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Comment: This is a market activity. Each market represents the consumption mix of a product in a given geography, connecting suppliers with consumers of the same product in the same geographical area. Markets group the producers and also the imports of the product (if relevant) within the same geographical area. They also account for transport to the consumer and for the losses during that process, when relevant. This is the market for 'gold', in the Global geography. Transport from producers to consumers of this product in the geography covered by the market is included. This market is supplied by the following activities with the given share: treatment of precious metal from electronics scrap, in anode slime, precious metal extraction, SE: 1.17027172626919e-05 gold mine operation and refining, SE: 0.00121552159485791 gold production, AU: 0.0898599555595185 gold production, CA: 0.0511377513993434 gold production, TZ: 0.0139794203278196 gold production, US: 0.06878934529039 gold refinery operation, ZA: 0.0914092651381309 gold-silver mine operation with refinery, CA-QC: 0.00710690436703483 gold-silver mine operation with refinery, PG: 0.00731274121105047 platinum group metal, extraction and refinery operations, ZA: 0.00171239274195283 processing of anode slime from electrorefining of copper, anode, GLO: 0.0328453630665826 silver-gold mine operation with refinery, CL: 0.000926487128010208 treatment of precious metal from electronics scrap, in anode slime, precious metal extraction, RoW: 0.00441495426514466 gold refinery operation, RoW: 0.350336698877979 gold-silver mine operation with refinery, RoW: 0.0822572721273277 primary zinc production from concentrate, RoW: 0.0181224344560457 silver-gold mine operation with refinery, RoW: 0.178561789731549 generalComment of gold mine operation and refining (SE): This dataset was created by merging two separate multi-output datasets from ecoinvent database v2; "mining, gold-silver-zinc-lead-copper deposit" and "refining, copper-zinc-lead-gold-silver, in smelter". This dataset describes the joint production of gold, silver, copper, lead and zinc. Both mining and refining are included in this activity. The data on mining corresponds to Swedish mines Aitik, Boliden and Garpenberg, which produce gold, silver and other metals. Data quality for emissions into air / water, as well as disposal of tailings, is low. Regarding the refining; gold and silver are supposed to be treated in the PGM plant in Rönnskär, whereas the other metals are supposed to undergo other treatments. A high share of the production is recycled metal, e.g. 74% for gold. generalComment of gold production (TZ): This data set describes the beneficiation, concentration and refinement of gold. [This dataset was already contained in the ecoinvent database version 2. It was not individually updated during the transfer to ecoinvent version 3. Life Cycle Impact Assessment results may still have changed, as they are affected by changes in the supply chain, i.e. in other datasets. This dataset was generated following the ecoinvent quality guidelines for version 2. It may have been subject to central changes described in the ecoinvent version 3 change report (http://www.ecoinvent.org/database/ecoinvent-version-3/reports-of-changes/), and the results of the central updates were reviewed extensively. The changes added e.g. consistent water flows and other information throughout the database. The documentation of this dataset can be found in the ecoinvent reports of version 2, which are still available via the ecoinvent website. The change report linked above covers all central changes that were made during the conversion process.] generalComment of gold production (US): This dataset describes the production 1 kg of gold, at plant. Data was taken from the following US gold-only mines: Bald Mountain, Cortez, Golden Sunlight, Goldstrike and Round Mountain (as in the 2006 Environmental report of Barrick), and Nevada and Golden Giant (as in the 2005 Environmental report of Newmont). Data for reference flows, by products and most exchanges was calculated by piling up the corresponding amounts of inputs and outputs of each mine, and then scaling the piled amounts to the production of 1 kg of gold. Barrick mines were previously owned by Placer Dome to Barrick, thus previous environmental reports of Placer Dome Inc. (2002) are used as well. Mines are either open ground or underground. generalComment of gold production (AU): This dataset describes the production of 1 kg of gold. Data was taken from the 2005 Environmental report of Newmont for the Kalgoorlie, Jundee, Tanami and Pajingo Mines - all of which produce only gold-. Data for reference flows, by products and most exchanges was calculated by piling up the corresponding inputs and outputs of each mine, and then scaling them to the production of 1 kg of gold. Tanami and Pajingo are underground mines; Kalgoorlie is open pit; and Jundee is both open pit and underground. [This dataset was already contained in the ecoinvent database version 2. It was not individually updated during the transfer to ecoinvent version 3. Life Cycle Impact Assessment results may still have changed, as they are affected by changes in the supply chain, i.e. in other datasets. This dataset was generated following the ecoinvent quality guidelines for version 2. It may have been subject to central changes described in the ecoinvent version 3 change report (http://www.ecoinvent.org/database/ecoinvent-version-3/reports-of-changes/), and the results of the central updates were reviewed extensively. The changes added e.g. consistent water flows and other information throughout the database. The documentation of this dataset can be found in the ecoinvent reports of version 2, which are still available via the ecoinvent website. The change report linked above covers all central changes that were made during the conversion process.] generalComment of gold production (CA): This dataset describes the production of 1 kg of gold. Data was taken from the environmental report of Placer Dome Inc. for the Campbell, Musselwhite and Porcupine Mines, which produce only gold. Campbell and Musselwhite are underground mines, whereas Porcupine has underground and open pit mines. For the inventory, most by product and exchange amounts were calculated by adding the corresponding inputs or outputs of each mine, and then scaling them to the reference flow of 1 kg of gold. Since the mines have been sold in 2006 to Kinross Gold Corporation and Goldcorp Inc., no actual data is available. Both enterprises do not publish their environmental data. Therefore, data from 2002 is used to model the gold production in Canada. [This dataset was already contained in the ecoinvent database version 2. It was not individually updated during the transfer to ecoinvent version 3. Life Cycle Impact Assessment results may still have changed, as they are affected by changes in the supply chain, i.e. in other datasets. This dataset was generated following the ecoinvent quality guidelines for version 2. It may have been subject to central changes described in the ecoinvent version 3 change report (http://www.ecoinvent.org/database/ecoinvent-version-3/reports-of-changes/), and the results of the central updates were reviewed extensively. The changes added e.g. consistent water flows and other information throughout the database. The documentation of this dataset can be found in the ecoinvent reports of version 2, which are still available via the ecoinvent website. The change report linked above covers all central changes that were made during the conversion process.] Beneficiation, concentration and refinement of gold. total requirements and emissions of the Campbell, Musselwhite and Porcupine Mines in 2002 as well as the total for Canada. generalComment of gold refinery operation (ZA): This dataset describe the refinery of gold. Unrefined gold (85% gold) is upgraded to the London Good Delivery Standard (99.5% gold). A small percentage is further upgrade to the Jewellery standard (99.8% gold). generalComment of gold refinery operation (RoW): This dataset is a copy of the South African dataset for the production of refined gold and it is also used as the best available representation of the GLO situation of the sector as well. This dataset describe the refinery of gold. Unrefined gold (85% gold) is upgraded to the London Good Delivery Standard (99.5% gold). A small percentage is further upgrade to the Jewellery standard (99.8% gold). None generalComment of gold-silver mine operation with refinery (PG): This dataset describes the joint production of 23570 kg of gold and 24000 kg of silver, at refinery. Data was taken from the environmental report of Placer Dome Inc. and Barrick for the Misima Mine and the Porgera Mine, respectively - both open pit mines -. Data for reference flows, by products and most exchanges was calculated by adding the corresponding inputs or outputs of each mine. For the Misima Mine data from 2000 is used, when the Misima Mine was still producing. For the Porgera Mine data from 2006 is used where available, the consumption of some material requirements is scaled with the weight of processed gold and data from the year 2002. [This dataset was already contained in the ecoinvent database version 2. It was not individually updated during the transfer to ecoinvent version 3. Life Cycle Impact Assessment results may still have changed, as they are affected by changes in the supply chain, i.e. in other datasets. This dataset was generated following the ecoinvent quality guidelines for version 2. It may have been subject to central changes described in the ecoinvent version 3 change report (http://www.ecoinvent.org/database/ecoinvent-version-3/reports-of-changes/), and the results of the central updates were reviewed extensively. The changes added e.g. consistent water flows and other information throughout the database. The documentation of this dataset can be found in the ecoinvent reports of version 2, which are still available via the ecoinvent website. The change report linked above covers all central changes that were made during the conversion process.] generalComment of gold-silver mine operation with refinery (CA-QC): This dataset describes the production of gold and silver in Quebec (Canada) in 2012. This includes the operations at the mining site located in Quebec, i.e. mining, benefication and a first refining, which leads to the production of doré bars, containing gold, silver and impurities. Specific data were collected from 3 mines that produced doré bars in Quebec. These mines represent about 98% of Quebec gold production and about 95% of Quebec silver production from combined gold-silver mines. Share is estimated as the production statistics for 2012-2013 are not published yet and considers gold-silver mines only (not gold and silver coming from other mines). One mine is an open-pit mine and the two others are underground. A weighted average of 839 tonnes of ore is extracted per kg of gold produce. The recovery rate of gold is known for two of the mines (89% and 91%) and the recovery rate of silver known for only one mine (76%). Note that the mine infrastructure are extrapolated from gold-silver mine operation with refinery, GLO dataset, where the modelled mines are open pit. This is not representative of the Quebec situation where two of the three modelled mine are underground. Thus a mine infrastrucuture, gold and silver, Québec will eventually be created in order to reflect the Québec specificity. In order to create a dataset with gold and silver as outputs (to comply with the boundaries of the GLO dataset), a very simplified modeling of the refining of the doré bars to produce gold and silver has been added to this dataset although it is done in Ontario (Canada) : electricity use is extrapolated from gold-silver mine operation with refinery, PE and PG datasets and infrastructure extrapolated from gold-silver mine operation with refinery, GLO dataset. It is assume that the refining efficency is 100% (i.e. no loss of gold). generalComment of gold-silver mine operation with refinery (RoW): This multi-output process "mining and refining, gold-silver deposit" delivers the two co-products "gold, from combined gold-silver-production, at refinery" and "silver, from combined gold-silver-production, at refinery". This data set includes the mining in Peru in open pit mines incl. land use. Air emissions are estimated. As mentionned in the Geography Comment, some exchanges relate to Quebec dataset. [This dataset was already contained in the ecoinvent database version 2. It was not individually updated during the transfer to ecoinvent version 3. Life Cycle Impact Assessment results may still have changed, as they are affected by changes in the supply chain, i.e. in other datasets. This dataset was generated following the ecoinvent quality guidelines for version 2. It may have been subject to central changes described in the ecoinvent version 3 change report (http://www.ecoinvent.org/database/ecoinvent-version-3/reports-of-changes/), and the results of the central updates were reviewed extensively. The changes added e.g. consistent water flows and other information throughout the database. The documentation of this dataset can be found in the ecoinvent reports of version 2, which are still available via the ecoinvent website. The change report linked above covers all central changes that were made during the conversion process.] generalComment of platinum group metal, extraction and refinery operations (ZA): This dataset represents data from four major platinum producing companies in South Africa Northam Platinum, Anglo American Platinum, Lonmin Platinum and Impala Platinum. Of the four only Anglo-American Platinum, Lonmin Platinum and Impala Platinum operate refineries. Platinum Group Metals (PGMs) is recovered through underground and open pit mining. The processing of the ore consists of concentration, smelting and refining. PGM mining in South Africa is located in the Bushveld Complex, which includes three distinct mineral-bearing reefs: The Merensky Reef, The UG2 Reef and Platreef. [This dataset is meant to replace the following datasets: - platinum group metal mine operation, ore with high rhodium content, ZA, 1995 - 2002 (2e5ef946-afd2-44a7-a41c-f7054fe43052)] generalComment of primary zinc production from concentrate (RoW): The multi-output "primary zinc production from concentrate" process includes all steps required to produce special high grade zinc from zinc concentrate using the electrometallurgical and pyrometallurgical (less common) processes. Electrometallurgical zinc smelting includes roasting, leaching, purification, electrolysis, melting, and sulfur dioxide gas treatment. Pyrometallurgical zinc smelting includes sintering, leaching, refining, and sulfur dioxide gas treatment. The dataset describes the production of zinc and additional co-products, primarily sulfuric acid. Data is based on a study undertaken by the International Zinc Association (IZA) in conjunction with thinkstep (the LCA practitioner) for reference year 2012. Participating companies provided annual primary data on inputs and outputs for each process step, which was aggregated into a single production-weighted dataset. The below images present the system boundary in relation to the primary product, special high grade zinc. imageUrlTagReplacec1fef210-e0fd-48fd-9cea-351f6a190ca8 imageUrlTagReplace27d4da96-9dfb-45d5-ac34-9f40810abac8 generalComment of processing of anode slime from electrorefining of copper, anode (GLO): For the processing of anode slimes from primary copper electrorefining globally. Background: Metals are produced as part of a complex, highly interconnected and interdependent system, with many desirable but scarce/critical metals recovered as by-products during the production of one or more ‘host’ metal(s). Copper is one of the world’s major mineral commodities and is mined from heterogeneous sulfide or oxide mineral deposits in countries worldwide. Copper sulfide deposits, such as those of the porphyry or massive sulphide type, contain numerous other valuable minerals, which are desirable to society. Copper is mined & beneficiated to produce a copper sulfide concentrate, as well as other by-product concentrates (e.g. molybdenite), which are sold to smelters. Copper sulfide concentrates are smelted to produce the intermediate product, copper anode. This is then sold to refineries, where it is electrorefined to produce copper cathode, which is sold to fabricators. The by-product of copper electrorefining is anode slime, which contains various important by-product metals (principally gold, silver, selenium & tellurium) and is sold to precious metal recovery plants for further processing to recover the valuable metals. Modelling approach: Amounts of exchanges to the environment and from the technosphere were taken from the treatment activity, “treatment of precious metal from electronics scrap, in anode slime, precious metal extraction”, which was used here as a proxy for the treatment of anode slime from primary copper production via pyrometallurgy. The amounts of by products from the process were calculated through a global material flow analysis of primary copper production. Further information is provided in the accompanying documentation (see Turner & Hischier, 2019). Electrical energy demand was based on Chatterjee et al. (1996). References Chatterjee, B. (1996). Electrowinning of gold from anode slimes. Materials Chemistry and Physics, 45, 27-32. Turner, D. A. & Hischier, R. (2019). Regionalised life cycle inventories of primary copper production (pyrometallurgy) and anode slime processing. Empa, St. Gallen, Switzerland. generalComment of silver-gold mine operation with refinery (CL): This dataset describes the joint production of 112000 kg of silver and 2990 kg of gold. Data was taken from the environmental report of Placer Dome Inc. for La Coipa Mine, an open pit one. Since the mine has been sold in 2006 to Kinross Gold Corporation and Goldcorp Inc., no more recent data is available. Also, both enterprises do not publish their environmental data. Therefore, the older data from 2002 is used to model the gold- and silver production in Chile. [This dataset was already contained in the ecoinvent database version 2. It was not individually updated during the transfer to ecoinvent version 3. Life Cycle Impact Assessment results may still have changed, as they are affected by changes in the supply chain, i.e. in other datasets. This dataset was generated following the ecoinvent quality guidelines for version 2. It may have been subject to central changes described in the ecoinvent version 3 change report (http://www.ecoinvent.org/database/ecoinvent-version-3/reports-of-changes/), and the results of the central updates were reviewed extensively. The changes added e.g. consistent water flows and other information throughout the database. The documentation of this dataset can be found in the ecoinvent reports of version 2, which are still available via the ecoinvent website. The change report linked above covers all central changes that were made during the conversion process.] generalComment of silver-gold mine operation with refinery (RoW): This multi-output process 'mining and refining, gold-silver deposit' delivers the two co-products 'gold, from combined gold-silver-production, at refinery' and 'silver, from combined gold-silver-production, at refinery'. This data set includes the mining in Chile in open pit mine incl. land use. Air emissions are estimated. [This dataset was already contained in the ecoinvent database version 2. It was not individually updated during the transfer to ecoinvent version 3. Life Cycle Impact Assessment results may still have changed, as they are affected by changes in the supply chain, i.e. in other datasets. This dataset was generated following the ecoinvent quality guidelines for version 2. It may have been subject to central changes described in the ecoinvent version 3 change report (http://www.ecoinvent.org/database/ecoinvent-version-3/reports-of-changes/), and the results of the central updates were reviewed extensively. The changes added e.g. consistent water flows and other information throughout the database. The documentation of this dataset can be found in the ecoinvent reports of version 2, which are still available via the ecoinvent website. The change report linked above covers all central changes that were made during the conversion process.] generalComment of treatment of precious metal from electronics scrap, in anode slime, precious metal extraction (SE, RoW): The multi-output-process "precious metal refining, secondary copper" delivers the co-products "silver, secondary, at precious metal refinery", "gold, secondary, at precious metal refinery" and "palladium, secondary, at precious metal refinery". The flows "silver, …" and "gold, …" are part of the global supply mix of gold and silver modelled in this part. The by-product "palladium, …" receives its part of the burdens, but it is not aimed to be used by the data-user. [This dataset was already contained in the ecoinvent database version 2. It was not individually updated during the transfer to ecoinvent version 3. Life Cycle Impact Assessment results may still have changed, as they are affected by changes in the supply chain, i.e. in other datasets. This dataset was generated following the ecoinvent quality guidelines for version 2. It may have been subject to central changes described in the ecoinvent version 3 change report (http://www.ecoinvent.org/database/ecoinvent-version-3/reports-of-changes/), and the results of the central updates were reviewed extensively. The changes added e.g. consistent water flows and other information throughout the database. The documentation of this dataset can be found in the ecoinvent reports of version 2, which are still available via the ecoinvent website. The change report linked above covers all central changes that were made during the conversion process.]
Origin: /Bund/UBA/ProBas
Tags: Dieselkraftstoff ? Hecht ? Zement ? Unterwasser ? Blech ? Erdgas ? Gerinne ? Schlammbehandlung ? Tantal ? Titan ? Wasserstraße ? Fluss ? Gold ? Elektrische Leistung ? Elektro-LKW ? Abfallbehandlung ? Elektrizität ? Elektrolyt ? Kohlenstoff ? Oxid ? Raffination ? Pflanzensamen ? Altmetall ? Zink ? Staub ? Flussbegradigung ? Stauanlage ? Goldbergbau ? Lastkraftfahrzeug ? Lexikon ? Chemie ? Cyanid ? Raffinerie ? Schimmel ? Abfalltransport ? Elektrolyse ? Staubminderung ? Süßwasser ? Tagebau ? Wirbelschicht ? Energieversorgung ? Sand ? Untertagebau ? Tankbehälter ? Warmwasserbereiter ? Gebäude ? Grubenwasser ? Wasseraufbereitungsanlage ? Stromsystem ? Energie ? Berg ? Mühle ? Neuanlage ? Abwasser ? Verfahrenstechnik ? Wasserfläche ? Energiebedarf ? Energieverbrauch ? Aufbereitungsanlage ? Wasser ? Bergematerial ? Erz ? Erzverhüttung ? Explosivstoff ? Höhle ? Gaswäscher ? Pyrit ? Gasleitung ? Wildlebende Tiere und Pflanzen ? Nachhaltigkeitsbericht ? Revitalisierung ? Lauge ? Brennofen ? Stahl ? Mineral ? Gebirge ? Körperschaft ? Niederschlag ? Kessel ? Transmission ? Heizung ? Ofen ? Legierung ? Mining of other non-ferrous metal ores ? Mining of metal ores ? Mining of non-ferrous metal ores ? Mining and quarrying ?
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Language: Deutsch
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