Rio Tinto | Minerals and Metals for the world

The difficulty of balancing emissions reductions with economic efficiency was illustrated by Greg Sinclair, general manager, environment, safety and health at IOC. Iron pellets produced by IOC contribute to the reduction of emissions during further processing into specialty steels. They command premium prices, so increasing production adds greater economic value. But it is not clear that downstream emissions savings of the product will earn IOC any credits when carbon taxes are levied in Canada. Instead, increased pellet production translates into higher emissions, leading to higher carbon taxes that could make IOC's product less competitive with producers without carbon taxes, like the US and Brazil.

The dilemma is that stabilizing the volume of emissions is at odds with the growing demand for resources needed for economic development, especially as those demands increase with burgeoning populations. Comalco's Boyne Island smelter has reduced on site emissions by 39 per cent per tonne of product since 1990. Total emissions (including those from purchased electricity) are down by five per cent per tonne. However, total aluminium production has more than doubled in this time, increasing total emissions. Boyne Island has the Group's highest level of greenhouse gas emissions simply because it runs on purchased electricity generated from coal.

Can "working smarter" at Rio Tinto operations make a difference? The search for cost reductions and greater productivity has been a primary driver for reducing energy consumption at Rio Tinto operations, rather than the climate change imperative itself. In mining, haulage is the big energy user. To achieve significant reductions of energy used, there would have to be alternatives to haul trucks. Ore conveyors would need in-mine crushing, which leads to the idea of ore processing close to the mining face to eliminate ore haulage altogether.

In conventional ore processing, the energy culprit is crushing and grinding (comminution). Highly inefficient in the use of energy, it is a problem the industry has been grappling with for 100 years and there are still fundamental design issues.



The difficulty of balancing emissions reductions with economic efficiency was illustrated by Greg Sinclair, general manager, environment, safety and health at IOC. Iron pellets produced by IOC contribute to the reduction of emissions during further processing into specialty steels. They command premium prices, so increasing production adds greater economic value. But it is not clear that downstream emissions savings of the product will earn IOC any credits when carbon taxes are levied in Canada. Instead, increased pellet production translates into higher emissions, leading to higher carbon taxes that could make IOC's product less competitive with producers without carbon taxes, like the US and Brazil. The dilemma is that stabilizing the volume of emissions is at odds with the growing demand for resources needed for economic development, especially as those demands increase with burgeoning populations. Comalco's Boyne Island smelter has reduced on site emissions by 39 per cent per tonne of product since 1990. Total emissions (including those from purchased electricity) are down by five per cent per tonne. However, total aluminium production has more than doubled in this time, increasing total emissions. Boyne Island has the Group's highest level of greenhouse gas emissions simply because it runs on purchased electricity generated from coal. Can "working smarter" at Rio Tinto operations make a difference? The search for cost reductions and greater productivity has been a primary driver for reducing energy consumption at Rio Tinto operations, rather than the climate change imperative itself. In mining, haulage is the big energy user. To achieve significant reductions of energy used, there would have to be alternatives to haul trucks. Ore conveyors would need in-mine crushing, which leads to the idea of ore processing close to the mining face to eliminate ore haulage altogether. In conventional ore processing, the energy culprit is crushing and grinding (comminution). Highly inefficient in the use of energy, it is a problem the industry has been grappling with for 100 years and there are still fundamental design issues.
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Review is published by Rio Tinto, 6 St James' Square, London SW1Y 4LD, England Telephone +44 (0)20 7930 2399 Editor: Cherry DeGeer