Carbon footprint of metal production could be >10 times higher than estimated

https://phys.org/news/2026-07-carbon-footprint-metal-production-higher.html

Comments

pfdietzJul 26, 2026, 9:55 PM
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.

littlexsparkeeJul 26, 2026, 10:00 PM
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.
pfdietzJul 26, 2026, 10:02 PM
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.

littlexsparkeeJul 26, 2026, 10:15 PM
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.
pfdietzJul 26, 2026, 11:25 PM
Yes, limestone is where the CO2 comes from.