dc.contributor.author | Pell, R | |
dc.contributor.author | Wall, F | |
dc.contributor.author | Yan, X | |
dc.contributor.author | Bailey, G | |
dc.date.accessioned | 2018-10-25T12:22:16Z | |
dc.date.issued | 2017-06-10 | |
dc.description.abstract | In this letter, we respond to the article in this journal by Weng et al. (2016) which performs a cradle to gate scale life cycle impact assessment for 26 operating and potential rare earth element (REE) mining projects. The work focuses on gross energy requirement and the global warming impacts of the primary REE production stage. The results suggest that the declining ore grades of REE significantly increase the environmental impact of REE production. We agree that a life cycle impact approach can be useful in comparing proposed REE production routes in the various different deposits currently under exploration, and were pleased to see a range of deposit types included in this work. However, we would like to make five points to clarify some of the results, which if taken at ‘face value’ from the graphs presented by Weng et al. (2016) may be misleading. | en_GB |
dc.description.sponsorship | Research was funded by SoS RARE NERC consortium (NE/
M011429/1), www.sosrare.org with University of Exeter cofunding
for R. Pell’s PhD project. Mkango Resources Ltd, owners
of the Songwe Hill exploration project, are one of the industry partners
on this project. | en_GB |
dc.identifier.citation | Vol. 162, pp. 791-794 | en_GB |
dc.identifier.doi | 10.1016/j.jclepro.2017.06.059 | |
dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/10871/34453 | |
dc.language.iso | en | en_GB |
dc.publisher | Elsevier | en_GB |
dc.rights | © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). | en_GB |
dc.title | Response to ‘Assessing the energy requirements and global warming potential of the production of rare earth elements’ | en_GB |
dc.type | Article | en_GB |
dc.date.available | 2018-10-25T12:22:16Z | |
dc.identifier.issn | 0959-6526 | |
dc.description | This is the final version. Available on open access from Elsevier via the DOI in this record | en_GB |
dc.identifier.journal | Journal of Cleaner Production | en_GB |