Environmental Impacts and Health Aspects in the Mining Industry - A Comparative Study of the Mining and Extraction of Uranium, Copper and Gold

Abstract: This thesis work has analysed environmental impacts and health aspects in the mining industry ofcopper, uranium and gold with the aim of determining the relative performance, in a given set ofparameters, of the uranium mining industry. A selection of fifteen active mining operations inAustralia, Canada, Namibia, South Africa, and the United States of America constitute the subject ofthis study. The project includes detailed background information about mineral extraction methods,the investigated minerals and the mining operations together with descriptions of the general mainhealth hazards and environmental impacts connected to mining. The mineral operations areinvestigated in a cradle to gate analysis for the year of activity of 2007 using the economic value ofthe product at the gate as functional unit. Primary data has been collected from environmentalreports, company web pages, national databases and through personal contact with companyrepresentatives. The subsequent analysis examines the collected data from a resource consumption,human health and ecological consequences point of view. Using the Life Cycle Impact Assessmentmethodology of characterisation, primary data of environmental loads have been converted to asynoptic set of environmental impacts. For radiation and tailings issues, a more general approach isused to address the problem. Based on the collected data and the investigated parameters, theresults indicate a presumptive relative disadvantageous result for the uranium mining industry interms of health aspects but an apparent favourable relative result in terms of environmental impacts.Given the prerequisites of this study, it is not feasible to draw any unambiguous conclusions.Inabilities to do this are mainly related to inadequate data availability from mine sites (especially inareas concerning tailings management), and difficulties concerned with the relative valuation ofspecific performance parameters, in particular radiation issues. Further studies are recommendedwithin tailings management issues, preferably performed at site, and for studies with a broadersustainability approach.