Brazilian mining sector and its environmental impact: a review of cradle-to-cradle options applied to residues, waste and tailings

Abstract

Sustainable development becomes urgent from the transformations that contemporary society, in its structure and functionality, has imposed on nature, including the dependence on dozens of mineral resources. The mining industry is the basis of several productive chains and it is also one of the economic activities that causes more impacts, mainly due to the generation and disposal of waste and tailings. Rampant exploitation of resources, production, consumption and the consequent generation of waste (increasingly harmful and on a larger scale) will intensify pollution (air, soil and water), damaging the natural balance of biomes. Environmental impacts affect a country's economic and social issues, and, in the context of mining, the cradle-to-cradle alternative and circular economy are presented as innovative proposals for the applications of waste and tailings. The research sought to investigate, through literature review, possible solutions that have been developed applications of mining waste, focusing in the Brazilian mining sector. In general, mining waste and tailings have high potential for use in other production cycles (industrial or agricultural), which can contribute to reduce disposal, reduce impacts and risks, and add value to the mining sector and subsequent production chains.