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62
ASSESSMENT EXAMPLE
Phase Aspect Description Potential Impacts Potential Mitigation Material Manufacturing Raw Material Extraction and processing Lithium occurs as a compounded form within the environment, such as lithium carbonate (although some lithium oxide sources also exist) thereby requiring chemical processing to be developed into lithium. Lithium carbonate is generally situated within salt flats, which are typically water scarce areas. The mining of such resources requires large amounts of water.
- Mining of lithium carbonate in salt flats has extensive
negative impacts to these highly sensitive ecosystems and will have resounding effects on biodiversity [0286].
- Mining of lithium requires extremely high amounts of
water, which is cause of concern due to the already scarce supply of water connected to areas being mined for lithium [0286].
- The extraction of raw materials can also have negative
effects on air quality due to heavy use of machinery as well as the generation of particulate matter in the form of dust.
- Processing of the lithium will result in various forms of
waste, such as emissions, effluent discharges as well as solid waste that will all have negative impacts on the
- environment. This is due to the toxic chemicals that are
used in the leaching process required in producing elemental lithium [0286].
- Lithium is highly volatile when exposed to water thereby
is a high health and safety risk [0254].
- The toxicity of chemicals used in the leaching process can
also have significant health risks.
- Lithium batteries are not the
- nly source of lithium demand,
therefore, lithium will still be mined irrespective of whether the energy storage system is adopted. Heavy metals (such as cobalt) are used within the lithium ion battery as part of the reactions required to store energy. Therefore, lithium ion batteries require the extraction of an additional battery specific element for its manufacture.
- Opencast mining of ore containing cobalt will have
biodiversity and agricultural impacts relating to the disturbance of land.
- The extraction of raw materials will also have negative
effects on air quality due to heavy use of machinery as well as the generation of particulate matter in the form of dust.
- Processing of the cobalt will result in various forms of
waste, such as emissions, effluent discharges as well as solid waste that will all have negative impacts on the
- environment. This could be in the form of sulphur acid
used in the stripping process, magnesium hydroxide used in the processing plant to extract cobalt or from emissions such as sulphur dioxide.
- Processing of cobalt also has a number of health risks
associated to the smelting process.
- The processing of the cobalt requires a large amount of
both water and energy.
- The amounts of heavy metals
used in the manufacture of lithium ion batteries depends on the specific anode and cathode chemistry but is generally small enough not to pose a significant potential for environmental impact due to production
