Abstract
The growing population and low-carbon transitions are spurring demand for mineral commodities and scarcity of critical minerals. As a result, mining industries are seeking more extraction and discovering new resources. Meanwhile, climate change-related concerns increase pressure on the mining industries to make their ongoing operations more environmentally, economically, and socially sustainable. On a social level, there has been discussion about how mining can better contribute to human and ecosystem well-being. These questions are being answered, but there is no systematic way to assess and monitor mining's contribution to society throughout the project life cycle. Different scholars have proposed and investigated two relevant perspectives: mine life cycle (MLC) and mining value chains (MVC).
Despite the growing importance of understanding the roles of various stakeholders in mining value chains, a systemic review of the relationship between the MVC and MLC is still lacking. Nevertheless, different definitions and applications of the MVC and MLC create misconceptions and knowledge gaps in companies' responsibilities. This review aims to examine these concepts closely and discusses their overlaps and gaps in detail. An evaluation of all open-source papers related to this topic and linked to the mining industry directly or indirectly was conducted in this paper. This review also includes publications from other industries, such as construction and other extractive industries, which contain problem statements applicable to the mining industry. The review concludes by identifying knowledge gaps, explaining how MLC and MVC interact, and suggesting future research directions toward sustainable mining.