Sustainability Factors 63.1 Environmental Factors 63.2 Sustainable Engineering in Mining
Added on 2020-04-07
16 Pages2992 Words104 Views
Running head: SUSTAINABLE ENGINEERINGSustainable EngineeringName of the Student:Name of the University:
2SUSTAINABLE ENGINEERING1.0 Introduction Sustainable engineering refers to the designing and processing of the energy andresources which does not compromise the natural environment. Mining is a multifaceted industrywith complex chains and processes. Extraction of minerals can become more environmentallysustainable and the impacts can be reduced by applying the latest tools and technologies. Theaim of this report is to determine sustainable engineering practices for extraction of minerals andmaterials (Viveros 2016). Historically, the mining industry is the oldest industry that has a major influence on thesocial and economic forces. The use of mineral resources has been for making tools andweapons. In the recent times, the government policies have changed and the extractive industryneed to ensure that mineral extraction is done with appropriate environmental standards (Shen,Muduli and Barve 2015). In the future of mining operations, technology is likely to play asignificant role. Innovation using technology shall help in building a long-term sustainable futurein the mining industry. The global context of mining involves a good understanding of theoverall scale of international mining industry, in terms of size and profitability. The field ofmining depends on the size of target deposit of minerals like iron ore, bauxite, gold and others(Soni and Wolkersdorfer 2016). 2.0 ObjectiveThe mining and minerals industry is advancing towards sustainability but encounterscertain issues in the current scenario. Mineral extraction has multiple phases that are associatedwith different environmental impact (Schoenberger 2016). In the exploratory phase, there aresurveys, field studies and other exploratory excavations. If this phase identifies huge deposits of
3SUSTAINABLE ENGINEERINGmineral ore, development phase is begun. The mining site needs preparation and clearing whichcan have significant environmental impacts (de Burgh-Woodman and Torrisi 2017). Figure 1: Average Cumulative Energy Cost of BioproductsSource: (Whiting, Carmona and Sousa 2017)The objective of this report is to determine sustainable engineering solutions that canminimize the impact from site preparation and cleaning. Further, after preparing the areas, theextraction process is begun. Open-pit mining may be conducted in which heavy machinery isused for removing vegetation, forests and trees from the surface. In case of underground mining,there are less environmental risks. Further, extraction of minerals involves disposal ofoverburden and waste rock. The high quantity of waste can contain certain toxic substances asseen in Baotou Coal Mine in China. The black sludge as presented in the below figure makes thelake toxic (News.Com.Au 2015).
End of preview
Want to access all the pages? Upload your documents or become a member.