TY - JOUR
T1 - Towards circular economy in mining
T2 - Opportunities and bottlenecks for tailings valorization
AU - Kinnunen, Päivi H.M.
AU - Kaksonen, Anna H.
N1 - Funding Information:
The work of Päivi Kinnunen was supported by the Academy of Finland [EcoTail, Decision no. 306079]. The work of Anna Kaksonen was supported by CSIRO Land and Water and CSIRO Mineral Resources. The organization of the workshop was supported by the KIC Raw Materials.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 Elsevier Ltd
Copyright:
Copyright 2019 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2019/4/16
Y1 - 2019/4/16
N2 - Current management of mining waste is based on linear economy thinking. However, the use of mining waste as a raw material resource can be one solution to the limited metal supply. The objective of this study was to fill in the knowledge gaps of business opportunities, drivers, needs and barriers for tailings valorization, since the transformation towards a circular economy needs advancements in understanding these factors. Based on a workshop and theme interviews, the utilization of tailings in the mining industry is currently in its infancy, but there is clear raw material potential for the future. The handling of sidestreams at mine sites depends on mine lifecycle. The identified opportunities and drivers were categorized under the circular economy mindset, technological, environmental, institutional and economic drivers. The needs were new value chains, technology development, the decrease in the amount of waste, stability, taxation, and predictability of regulation. Challenges and bottlenecks were categorized under new value chains, technological, environmental, institutional, economic and knowledge bottlenecks. The identified needs and barriers need to be properly addressed to speed up the transformation towards the circular economy in the mining industry.
AB - Current management of mining waste is based on linear economy thinking. However, the use of mining waste as a raw material resource can be one solution to the limited metal supply. The objective of this study was to fill in the knowledge gaps of business opportunities, drivers, needs and barriers for tailings valorization, since the transformation towards a circular economy needs advancements in understanding these factors. Based on a workshop and theme interviews, the utilization of tailings in the mining industry is currently in its infancy, but there is clear raw material potential for the future. The handling of sidestreams at mine sites depends on mine lifecycle. The identified opportunities and drivers were categorized under the circular economy mindset, technological, environmental, institutional and economic drivers. The needs were new value chains, technology development, the decrease in the amount of waste, stability, taxation, and predictability of regulation. Challenges and bottlenecks were categorized under new value chains, technological, environmental, institutional, economic and knowledge bottlenecks. The identified needs and barriers need to be properly addressed to speed up the transformation towards the circular economy in the mining industry.
KW - Circular economy
KW - Mining
KW - Tailings
KW - Valorization
KW - Waste
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85065083131&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.04.171
DO - 10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.04.171
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85065083131
VL - 228
SP - 153
EP - 160
JO - Journal of Cleaner Production
JF - Journal of Cleaner Production
SN - 0959-6526
ER -
