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What Is the Optimal and Sustainable Lifetime of a Mine?

Author

Listed:
  • Friedrich-Wilhelm Wellmer

    (Formerly Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR), Stilleweg 2, D-30655 Hannover, Germany
    Private address: Neue Sachlichkeit 32, D-30655 Hannover, Germany.)

  • Roland W. Scholz

    (Department of Knowledge Management and Communication, Faculty of Business and Globalization, Danube University, 3500 Krems, Austria
    Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), 8096 Zurich, Switzerland
    Department of Physical Process Engineering, Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology (IGB), 70569 Stuttgart, Germany)

Abstract

The first stage of the circular economy, mining, is examined from the perspective of sustainability. The authors discuss how to maximize the use of phosphate rock, a primary commodity. To attract investment capital in a market economy system, a mine has to operate profitably, i.e., its lifetime must be optimized under economic conditions, for example, according to Taylor’s Rule. From a sustainability perspective, however, the lifetime should extend as long as possible and the grades mined be as low as possible. The authors examine methods for optimizing a mine’s lifetime under economic conditions according to practical experience and learning effects to optimize exploration and exploitation. With the condition of sustainability, a recently developed concept of cut-off grade for a layered phosphate deposit is examined and considerations for prolonging a mine’s lifetime are discussed. As there are big losses from the current and potential future value chains above and below the current cut-off grade, we argue that the losses and use efficiency of phosphorus are key parts of a circular economy.

Suggested Citation

  • Friedrich-Wilhelm Wellmer & Roland W. Scholz, 2018. "What Is the Optimal and Sustainable Lifetime of a Mine?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-22, February.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:10:y:2018:i:2:p:480-:d:131397
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
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    2. Stuermer, Martin, 2018. "150 Years Of Boom And Bust: What Drives Mineral Commodity Prices?," Macroeconomic Dynamics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 22(3), pages 702-717, April.
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    6. Solow, Robert, 1993. "An almost practical step toward sustainability," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 19(3), pages 162-172, September.
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. V.V. Gedam & R.D. Raut & Ana Beatriz Lopes de Sousa Jabbour & N. Agrawal, 2021. "Moving the Circular Economy Forward in the Mining Industry: Challenges to Closed-Loop in an Emerging Economy," Post-Print hal-04275964, HAL.
    2. Philip Metzger, 2023. "Economics of In-Space Industry and Competitiveness of Lunar-Derived Rocket Propellant," Papers 2303.09011, arXiv.org.
    3. Gerald Steiner & Bernhard Geissler, 2018. "Sustainable Mineral Resource Management—Insights into the Case of Phosphorus," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(8), pages 1-8, August.
    4. Federica Cucchiella & Idiano D’Adamo & Massimo Gastaldi & Vincenzo Stornelli, 2018. "Solar Photovoltaic Panels Combined with Energy Storage in a Residential Building: An Economic Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-29, August.
    5. Roland W. Scholz & Gerald Steiner, 2022. "The role of transdisciplinarity for mineral economics and mineral resource management: coping with fallacies related to phosphorus in science and practice," Mineral Economics, Springer;Raw Materials Group (RMG);Luleå University of Technology, vol. 35(3), pages 745-763, December.
    6. Gedam, Vidyadhar V. & Raut, Rakesh D. & Lopes de Sousa Jabbour, Ana Beatriz & Agrawal, Nishant, 2021. "Moving the circular economy forward in the mining industry: Challenges to closed-loop in an emerging economy," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).

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