Note that this is for copper, not metals in general. Iron ores are oxide ores, not sulfide ores, so they would not be as subject to this issue.
The world produces about 100x more iron than copper each year.
littlexsparkee•45m ago
Thank you, I was just going to leave this caveat since if metal prod is 10% of carbon emissions being off by an order of magnitude on all of metal production would've been massive.
pfdietz•42m ago
It's also possible to neutralize acid drainage with non-carbonate minerals, for example olivine.
The sulfide tailings of some mining regions, as in Spain, may in the future become exploited as sources of sulfur. Today most sulfur comes from desulfurization of oil and natural gas, but in a post-fossil fuel age that source will not be available, so the large amounts of pyrite in these tailings could be exploited instead.
littlexsparkee•29m ago
That's the other component I didn't grok at first - the sheer amount of tailings and their contribution to carbon footprint since mining could result in 200:1 waste pyrite to copper. Looking at near term emissions from mining underestimates the share of emissions from these ores since this process can take decades to centuries to unfold. Neutralization with something like limestone would be a high emissions process itself IIUC.
pfdietz•49m ago
The world produces about 100x more iron than copper each year.
littlexsparkee•45m ago
pfdietz•42m ago
The sulfide tailings of some mining regions, as in Spain, may in the future become exploited as sources of sulfur. Today most sulfur comes from desulfurization of oil and natural gas, but in a post-fossil fuel age that source will not be available, so the large amounts of pyrite in these tailings could be exploited instead.
littlexsparkee•29m ago