What environmental effects does extracting copper from its ore and refining it using electrolysis have??

Question

What environmental effects does extracting copper from its ore and refining it using electrolysis have??

Answer 1

Since most copper ores are sulfides (chalcopyrite, bornite, chalcocite, covellite), most of the environmental effects will be Acid Rain.

However, most smelting plants these days purify flue gases by scrubbing (purifying) with water and crushed limestone or sodium alkali sorbent, which reacts with sulfur dioxide generating harmless and often useful gypsum (CaSO4).