Tuesday, February 20, 4-5 p.m. Herderbau, R200.
The mining industry provides many of the raw materials that enable our modern society to function. The demand for mined products is expected to increase substantially. As a result, there is considerable concern that the detrimental impacts that are commonly associated with mining activities may grow into the future. An overview of mining and metal production was presented, highlighting the valuable role of industrial ecology-based methods for developing industry-wide assessments of environmental impacts and potential mitigation strategies.
Dr Stephen Northey is visiting from Monash University, Australia for six weeks as part of a researcher exchange funded by the UA-DAAD Australia-Germany Joint Research Cooperation Scheme. Through roles with both Monash University and Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), he has assessed the global supply and demand of mineral products, evaluated water and energy consumption throughout the mining industry, and conducted techno-economic and life cycle assessment studies of technologies being developed for the mining, minerals processing and metal production industries. Stephen is an expert member of the UNEP-SETAC Life Cycle Initiative’s taskforce on mineral resource depletion impact indicators, and he also chairs the International Working Group for Water Use in LCA (WULCA)’s sub-committee on the Natural Resources Area-of-Protection.
This talk was organized by Industrial Ecology Freiburg as part of the series “Freiburg Talks on Environment and Society”
