Re-Thinking Mining Waste through an Integrative Approach Led by Circular Economy Aspirations

TLDR

Mining wastes such as waste rocks and tailings can cause significant social and environmental impacts, and there is a need for long‑term strategies to transform the industry toward zero environmental footprint. The paper seeks to determine how the mining industry can create new economic value, reduce social and environmental impacts, and lower liability from mining waste. The authors review existing knowledge across social, environmental, technical, legal, regulatory, and economic domains and propose an integrative approach that covers social dimensions, geoenvironmental aspects, geometallurgy specifications, economic drivers, and legal implications, aligned with ICMM’s ten principles. The study finds that circular‑economy thinking can significantly reduce liability and enhance the value of mining waste.

Abstract

Mining wastes, particularly in the form of waste rocks and tailings, can have major social and environmental impacts. There is a need for comprehensive long-term strategies for transforming the mining industry to move toward zero environmental footprint. “How can the mining industry create new economic value, minimise its social and environmental impacts and diminish liability from mining waste?” This would require cross-disciplinary skills, across the social, environmental, technical, legal, regulatory, and economic domains, to produce innovative solutions. The aim of this paper is to review the current knowledge across these domains and integrate them in a new approach for exploiting or “re-thinking” mining wastes. This approach includes five key areas of social dimensions, geoenvironmental aspects, geometallurgy specifications, economic drivers and legal implications for improved environmental outcomes, and circular economy aspirations, which are aligned with the 10 principles of the International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM). Applying circular economy thinking to mining waste presents a major opportunity to reduce the liability and increase the value of waste materials arising from mining and processing operations.