Environmental problems in mining and transporting the raw materials

Environmental problems in mining and transporting the raw materials

Think about:

Loss of landscape due to mining, processing and transporting the iron ore, coke and limestone.

Noise and air pollution (greenhouse effect, acid rain) involved in these operations.


Extracting iron from the ore

Think about:

Loss of landscape due to the size of the chemical plant needed.

Noise.

Atmospheric pollution from the various stages of extraction. For example: carbon dioxide (greenhouse effect); carbon monoxide (poisonous); sulphur dioxide from the sulphur content of the ores (poisonous, acid rain).

Disposal of slag, some of which is just dumped.

Transport of the finished iron.


Recycling

Think about:

Saving of raw materials and energy by not having to first extract the iron from the ore.

Avoiding the pollution problems in the extraction of iron from the ore.

Not having to find space to dump the unwanted iron if it wasn't recycled.

(Offsetting these to a minor extent) Energy and pollution costs in collecting and transporting the recycled iron to the steel works.