Print6.1.4 Sustainable
The intersection of the three regions, bearable, equitable, and viable, defines the sweet spot of sustainability. If you think about it, how could it be anything else? The needs of society for minerals and the needs of the mining company to satisfy the expectations of their shareholders will be balanced against the constraints of the environment and the need to operate in an ethical and socially responsible fashion.
The goal of this discussion has been to equip you with an understanding of the evolving expectations for sustainable development and the ways that society views and evaluates industrial activities such as mining. No doubt you appreciate how difficult it is to establish whether or not something is bearable or equitable, and undoubtedly you can imagine how difficult it could be for a company planning a project over which some are opposed. Despite the uncertainty and fuzzy nature of bearable, equitable, and to a lesser extent viable, there are concrete actions that you can take in the planning and operations stages to facilitate sustainability. We are going to take a look at these in the next Lesson.