A review of the literature on the application of LCA methodology in the gold industry

Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a methodological approach frequently used to evaluate the potential environmental impacts of technological systems. This approach has reached a certain degree of development thanks to recent standardization work, however, several challenges remain, particularly in the minerals sector where life cycle assessment (LCA) still needs to be improved and expanded in its implementation. The main challenge of LCA is the difficulty of obtaining data to develop the life cycle inventory (LCI). The objective of this study was to develop a systematic review of the application of LCA in the gold industry. A total of 16 articles on gold mining were identified and discussed in the results and discussion section. In most of these studies, Simapro software was preferred as the life cycle assessment tool, and the ReCiPe method was used as the preferred impact assessment method in 56% of cases. Meanwhile, 44% of studies used the IMPACT 2002+, CML-IA, ILCD, LCA to ExLCA, DEC, CCR, EM-LCA, and Eco-Indicator 99 methods. Global warming, human toxicity, eutrophication, land use, partial water use, and metal resource depletion are the main impact categories assessed. Greenhouse gases and nitrogen compounds are substances emitted into the environment.