IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/inecol/v15y2011i6p922-936.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Life Cycle Inventories of Gold Artisanal and Small‐Scale Mining Activities in Peru

Author

Listed:
  • Sonia M. Valdivia
  • Cassia M. L. Ugaya

Abstract

No life cycle assessment (LCA) of artisanal and small‐scale mining activities (A&Sma) has been identified as of today, and there are limited studies about large‐scale mining and alluvial mining. The A&Sma are relevant economic sectors in countries with large reserves of mineral resources. Gold is the most representative metal mined with these practices and is used not only in jewelry but also in several electronics appliances. South America accounted for 17% of the total worldwide gold extraction in 2005; A&Sma occurred mostly in Colombia, Peru, and Brazil. The aim of this study is to estimate environmental indicators using methodologies for life cycle inventories (LCIs) in one of the two largest producers of gold through A&Sma in South America, Peru, and to discuss possible indicators for A&Sma in South America. Different functional units were used for each case study, as gold with different concentrations was produced and it was not possible to collect data for downstream processes for both bases. The product systems start in the mining and end with the gold production. Data were collected in two mining sites and, later on, related to the functional units. The results showed the amount of energy and water consumed as well as mercury used and released, carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, and solid wastes for each type of gold produced.

Suggested Citation

  • Sonia M. Valdivia & Cassia M. L. Ugaya, 2011. "Life Cycle Inventories of Gold Artisanal and Small‐Scale Mining Activities in Peru," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 15(6), pages 922-936, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:inecol:v:15:y:2011:i:6:p:922-936
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1530-9290.2011.00379.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1530-9290.2011.00379.x
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/j.1530-9290.2011.00379.x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Mozhgon Rajaee & Samuel Obiri & Allyson Green & Rachel Long & Samuel J. Cobbina & Vincent Nartey & David Buck & Edward Antwi & Niladri Basu, 2015. "Integrated Assessment of Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mining in Ghana—Part 2: Natural Sciences Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-41, July.
    2. Rodríguez-Novoa, Felipe & Holley, Elizabeth, 2023. "Coexistence between large-scale mining (LSM) and artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) in Perú and Colombia," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:inecol:v:15:y:2011:i:6:p:922-936. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=1088-1980 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.