806 mechanisms well established in mineral processing practice and reported in the literature. 3.5 Implications for Process Optimisation Practice By linking carbon emissions to engineering objects and operational variables, the carbon footprint becomes interpretable within standard process optimisation workflows. Instead of serving only as a reporting output, kg CO₂e can be evaluated alongside kWh/t, recovery, and cost using the same scenarios, datasets, and decision logic. This perspective allows practitioners to identify not only energy-efficient options but also configurations that minimise total carbon exposure as emissions shift toward consumables and services. The case study in Section 4 shows how these redistributions become visible when the integrated framework is applied to routine optimisation scenarios. This approach distinguishes the framework by treating carbon footprint as an operational response variable rather than a post hoc sustainability indicator. 4. ILLUSTRATIVE USE OF CARBON AS AN OPTIMISATION KPI, WITH INTEGRATION OF CONSUMABLES In this approach, the aim is not to provide a fully developed life cycle model, but to demonstrate how consumables can be incorporated into optimisation results and influence carbon-based decision signals. The analysis uses a generalised and anonymised dataset from an industrial grinding circuit optimisation study. Twelve operating scenarios were simulated, varying throughput and power draw while maintaining the same grinding media specification, liner configuration, and operating philosophy. Electricity consumption is taken directly from simulation outputs, while consumables are included using simplified but explicit inventory assumptions. 4.1 Scope and Objectives – Goal and Scope Definition This section aligns the Process Optimisation (PO) problem with an equivalent LCA goal and scope, ensuring that operating outputs (throughput, energy, consumables) translate directly into carbon indicators within the same battery limits. 4.1.1 Process Optimisation Perspective The optimisation problem is defined for a grinding circuit comprising primary and secondary grinding, targeting a product size of P80 = 100 µm. The objective is to explore operating conditions that increase throughput while maintaining acceptable specific energy and circuit performance. The battery limits include the grinding circuit from primary mill feed to the final product of secondary grinding, as shown in Figure 1. Upstream crushing and downstream separation stages are excluded. Figure 1 – Simplify Grinding Circuit
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