Cradle to Gate
Identity ID
e80424b1-ce71-45aa-92ea-bcc22b6b47e1
Materials
Associated ID
f0d80c76-624d-4557-bb23-cf2e25ac98a1
Included activities starts
Included activities ends
Description
This dataset represents vanadium-titanium magnetite ore mining in Sichuan. It provides a life cycle inventory (cradle-to-gate) covering all activities related to iron ore mining and production, from drilling through to the output of iron ore. However, it excludes the production of drilling equipment, transportation vehicles, personnel travel, and direct or indirect greenhouse gas emissions from daily office operations during the mining production process. The dataset was compiled from multiple data sources based on Chinese national standards such as the 'Manual of Production and Emission Coefficients for the Iron Ore Mining and Processing Industry (0810)', 'Emission standard of pollutants for mining and mineral procressing industry (GB 28661-2012)', 'Cleaning production standard Iron ore mining and mineral processing industry', and 'The norm of the energy consumption per unit product of iron ore dressing(GB31337-2014)', and is representative of the average production level of vanadium-titanium magnetite ore mining in China.
Activity Description
This dataset describes the mining of Sichuan vanadium-titanium magnetite ore, with mining methods primarily including two basic forms: open-pit mining and underground mining.
Open-pit mining: Open-pit mining is a method of extracting ore by removing the overlying rock and soil covering the ore body and directly exposing the ore body at the surface. This technique is typically applied to ore bodies that are shallow and large in scale, offering advantages such as lower mining costs and higher production efficiency. Typical open-pit mining steps include drilling, blasting, stripping overburden, ore loading, and transportation. Main equipment used includes excavators, drilling rigs, bulldozers, and mining trucks. Underground mining: Underground mining is primarily used for deeper ore bodies, accessing the ore through the construction of underground shafts and tunnels. This method is suitable for deposits where the ore body is buried deeply or where surface conditions are not suitable for open-pit mining. The process of underground mining includes mine construction, ore extraction, and hoisting. Equipment used includes drills, hoists, and mine cars. The advantage of underground mining is its relatively low surface disturbance, but it involves higher costs and stringent safety requirements.
Process Description
Vanadium-titanium magnetite is a complex associated mineral primarily composed of iron, vanadium, and titanium, accompanied by various valuable elements (such as chromium, cobalt, nickel, copper, scandium, gallium, and platinum group elements), with high contents of valuable elements. It is an important industrial mineral raw material with high development and comprehensive utilization value. In nature, vanadium-titanium magnetite mainly forms in mafic and ultramafic rock bodies. Common valuable ore minerals in the resulting deposits are mainly titanomagnetite and ilmenite, along with minor amounts of magnetite, hematite, and sulfides. Ilmenite is a magnetite containing solid solution exsolutions such as ilmenite, ulvospinel, and magnesio-aluminate spinel, which can crystallize into ilmenite and magnetite through regional metamorphism. Vanadium-titanium magnetite typically contains 1%–15% TiO₂ and 0.1%–2% V₂O₅. The chemical composition of ilmenite is FeTiO₃, and ilmenite contains 52% TiO₂. 66%, with Fe2+ capable of complete isomorphous substitution with Mg2+ or Mn2+, forming the FeTiO3-MgTiO3 or FeTiO3-MnTiO3 series. When FeO is dominant, it is called ilmenite; when MgO is dominant, it is called geikielite; and when MnO is dominant, it is called pyrophanite. Ilmenite has a Mohs hardness of 5–6, a specific gravity of 4.70–4.78, exhibits weak magnetism, and has a magnetic susceptibility of 1173.33–224.56×10⁻⁹ m³/kg.
Time period
2022
2026
Geography
China,Sichuan
Geography comment
Forming Sichuan average data through merging data from multiple sources
Macroeconomic value
Business-as-Usual
Data validation
Yes
Technology
Current Technology
Technology comment
This dataset describes the mining of Sichuan vanadium-titanium magnetite ore, which mainly includes two methods:
Open-pit mining: Directly accessing the ore by removing overlying rock and soil. It is suitable for shallow deposits, has lower costs, high production efficiency, and typically employs large-scale equipment such as excavators and bulldozers.
Underground mining: Accessing deep-seated ore bodies through the construction of underground tunnels. It is suitable for deeply buried deposits, has higher costs, causes less surface disturbance, but requires higher levels of safety assurance.