MIM primary lead production: a life-cycle approach to identification and management of the environmental effects

The future of the lead industry and of others facing similar challenges dep ends to a significant degree on their ability to develop and implement appr opriate strategies and means to argue their environmental case and manage t heir environmental effects. These strategies and means need to be significa ntly more 'holistic' and integrated than previously. MIM Holdings, Ltd., an Australian-owned international company, and Britannia Refined Metals, Ltd. , a United Kingdom-based metal-refining company in the MIM group, have spon sored an environmental assessment of their refined primary lead products. A major output from this research is an integrated series of environmental l ife-cycle assessment-based models with multiple foci, ranging from the whol e 'cradle-to-gate' life-cycle to the individual process. From these models environmental inventories and potential environmental impacts may be calcul ated with relative ease. The technical, methodological and epistemological uncertainties inherent in such modelling necessitate that their potential i nfluence be assessed and incorporated in any assertions that may be made. G raphs of selected inventories and potential impacts are presented and the i nterpretations are accompanied by such assessments. Finally, conclusions ar e drawn on the benefits and limitations of such modelling and assessment ap proaches, as well as on areas for further development.