Constructing a life cycle inventory of Spodumene concentrate production: Greenbushes case, Western Australia

Abstract

Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a data-intensive method widely used by academics and professionals to facilitate environmental decision-making and policy formulation. However, LCA's effectiveness can be compromised by the lack of high-quality data and significant data gaps in the life cycle inventory such as for the LCA model of lithium extraction in the mining industry. While lithium has become the focal point in the clean energy transition, oversimplified models and approximations from other sectors have diminished the quality of input and output data. This research aims to model the mining and processing operations in the world's largest lithium mine in Greenbushes, Australia, by utilising..