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4270014 
Journal Article 
The steel industry, abiotic resource depletion and life cycle assessment: a real or perceived issue? 
Yellishetty, M; Mudd, GM; Ranjith, PG 
2011 
1 
Journal of Cleaner Production
ISSN: 0959-6526
EISSN: 1879-1786 
19 
1 
78-90 
WOS:000284566000010 
Time and again, there has been a hue and a cry that the world is running out of natural resources and the most prominent among those is the famous study entitled 'The Limits to Growth' by the 'Club of Rome'. Since then the fear of scarcity of abiotic resources has been challenging human societies around the globe, particularly the research community. In this paper we will examine the case of the steel industry to argue how and why mineral resources depletion is an issue that needs to be addressed through life cycle assessment in more detail. This paper shows that a more comprehensive understanding about the current production trends of iron ore and steel, which also requires several vital metals such as copper, manganese, nickel and so on, can provide useful insights in assessing the potential future threat of shortages due to depletion of abiotic mineral resources. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 
LCA; Minerals sector; Abiotic resource depletion; Iron and steel industry; Triple bottom line and GDP