Centre for Environmental Policy, Imperial College London, London, SW7 2AZ, UK,
Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2013 Nov;20(11):7815-26. doi: 10.1007/s11356-013-1785-8. Epub 2013 May 21.
On top of significant improvements and progress made through science and engineering in the last century to increase efficiency and reduce impacts of mining to the environment, risk assessment has an important role to play in further reducing such impacts and preventing and mitigating risks. This paper reflects on how risk assessment can improve planning, monitoring and management in mining and mineral processing operations focusing on the importance of better understanding source-pathway-receptor linkages for all stages of mining. However, in light of the ever-growing consumption and demand for raw materials from mining, the need to manage environmental resources more sustainably is becoming increasingly important. The paper therefore assesses how mining can form an integral part of wider sustainable resources management, with the need for re-assessing the potential of mining in the context of sustainable management of natural capital, and with a renewed focus on its the role from a systems perspective. The need for understanding demand and pressure on resources, followed by appropriate pricing that is inclusive of all environmental costs, with new opportunities for mining in the wastes we generate, is also discussed. Findings demonstrate the need for a life cycle perspective in closing the loop between mining, production, consumption and waste generation as the way forward.
除了上个世纪在科学和工程方面取得的重大改进和进展，以提高采矿对环境的效率和减少影响外，风险评估在进一步减少此类影响以及预防和减轻风险方面也发挥着重要作用。本文反思了风险评估如何通过关注采矿各个阶段源路径受体关系的重要性来改善采矿和矿物加工作业的规划、监测和管理。然而，鉴于对采矿原材料的消费和需求不断增长，更可持续地管理环境资源变得越来越重要。因此，本文评估了采矿如何成为更广泛的可持续资源管理的一个组成部分，需要重新评估在可持续管理自然资本的背景下采矿的潜力，并从系统的角度重新关注其作用。本文还讨论了了解资源需求和压力以及对所有环境成本进行包容性定价的必要性，以及在我们产生的废物中挖掘新的机会的必要性。研究结果表明，需要从生命周期的角度来考虑采矿、生产、消费和废物产生之间的循环，这是前进的方向。
