International Tin Association (ITA) publishes Lifecycle Assessment of Tin Production

As part of its members’ commitment to sustainable development, The International Tin Association (ITA) is pleased to publish results from a new Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) quantifying the environmental impacts of the production of refined tin. This study is the first of its kind for the tin industry and provides new insights into the environmental impacts for the production of refined tin. The ITA members who participated in the study are responsible for around 55% of globally refined tin production, including both primary and secondary metal.

The LCA study supports the tin industry’s commitment to understand and improve its sustainability performance. The LCA was undertaken by renowned consultancy Sphera Solutions Inc. in accordance with ISO 14040 and ISO 14044 standards and included impacts of mining (including artisanal and small scale production), recycled material, mineral processing or beneficiation, smelting, and refining.

Kay Nimmo, Head of Sustainability at ITA explained that “This new LCA study provides an updated understanding of average industry impacts and provides aggregated tin industry sustainability performance data which is increasingly sought after by tin stakeholders and users.”

The Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) provides an insight into which processes and inputs contribute the most to potential environmental impacts across the sector as a whole. The study calculated the average global industry impacts of 1 tonne of refined tin metal (99.85% – 99.95%) for the reference year 2018/2019.

The LCA summary report is available for download on the ITA website: Life Cycle Assessment of Tin Production