Page 283 - Materials Chemistry, Second Edition

APPLICATION OF LCA IN MINING AND MINERALS PROCESSING 271

the exchanges. Purchasers buy products from the exchanges, buyers seldom
buy products from specific locations, and very infrequently, or never, directly
from a single site. Further, there is little direct link between mining companies
and users because there are often many steps between the mine and a finished
product such as a car or a toaster. Therefore there is limited pressure from end
users either to prompt companies to supply life cycle information, or to use life
cycle tools in their decision processes.
The diamond, gemstones and jewellery industries are an exception to this
material value chain disconnection. Stewardship programmes promote sus-
tainably sourced materials in these industries. An example of this type of pro-
gram is that of the World Jewellery Confederation Education Foundation as
indicated in call out Box 1.

Box 1. The World Jewellery Confederation Education Foundation
(WJCEF)

The goal of WJCEF is to establish a programme that will educate mem-
bers of the diamond, gemstone and jewellery industries, all over the world
and in all sectors, from mine to market, about the principles of Corporate
Social Responsibility, and how they may implement these principles in
their businesses.
www.sustainablejewellery.org/

12.2.1.1 Low Overall Business Priority
Life cycle considerations are typically relatively low on the priorities of the
sites and/or the controlling corporations.
The primary priorities of the industry are:
• Safety of all people on site and surrounding communities.
• Compliance with local, national and international regulations
and laws. This includes local issues and voluntary and manda-
tory reporting programs.
• The previous priorities are essential for maintaining a social
licence to operate.
• Increasing production output, given current commodity prices
product not shipped today is a lost opportunity, the focus is on
immediate sale of product.
• Cost reductions which are traditionally delivered through a focus
on efficiency and/or increasing economies of scale, sites typically
aim to be an upper quartile producer, meaning that they focus
in reducing cost per product tonne to the point that they are in
the upper 25% of the efficiency curve for the industry, this means
that they are mostly recession proof and are most likely to survive
a downturn in commodity prices.