Yes, it is true. You as a mining professional, along with your colleagues, and the companies that constitute the mining industry are more in control of your destiny than many like to admit. Moreover, the industry and its actions, or in some cases lack of action, have contributed to the current poor state-of-affairs for mining throughout the world. For too long, and in too many corners of the globe, mining companies, often with the blessing of local governments, have conducted their business without due regard to societal expectations; and now everyone is paying a price! And, it’s time for that to change! Okay, that felt good... now let me step down from my soapbox.
First of all, it is changing, and positive change is being advanced by leaders in the global mining community with the guidance of their professional and trade associations. However, lasting change, and the leaders of this movement all agree, will only be achieved through the sustained actions of the next generation of mining professionals. Why is this? Unlike your predecessors, you are being equipped with a new set of tools that will allow you to take more informed actions that will pave the way to a more sustainable industry. You see, the work that needs to be done is on an on-going basis, not once and done; further, it cannot be done by only certain designated persons within each operation. Rather everyone has to do their part, every day, and a goal of this lesson is to outline what that means for you.
I’ve chosen to group those actions into three categories, and I list them in no particular order: mining practices; community relations; and safety, health, and environment. And, before proceeding, I should clarify a few points. As with previous lists, the examples that I give here are representative, but are by no means exhaustive. The focus of this discussion is on facilitating sustainability and not on traditional mine design and operation – here we are looking for ways to supplement and complement traditional design and operation to become more sustainable. In other words, what is it that we should we be doing in mine planning, design, and operation so that our mining is conducted in harmony with societal expectations?
All mining, past and present, has occurred on less than a fraction of a percent of the Earth’s land mass; and the mineral resources mined to date are a small fraction of the total estimated resources. We, as miners, cannot control societal demand for minerals, but we can take steps to ensure that resources are not squandered. We do this through a design and planning process that allows us to achieve the highest extraction rate that is safely possible. In surface mining, we normally have strong economic incentives to recover all of the ore above the cutoff grade. In underground mining we usually need to leave some resource in-place for ground support reasons, and this will limit the extraction ratio. Extraction ratios of 60% are not uncommon, although for some commodities, the ratio will be much higher. Remember that after we have finished mining a specific reserve, it is almost always impossible to go back at a later time to recover additional ore. It is often said that the resource has been “sterilized.” From a sustainability perspective, we want to ensure that we are not wasting the opportunity to recover all the resource than can be recovered safely and economically; and we do this through proper planning and design.
Mines receive permits to operate, and these permits typically define conditions of operation. The constraints imposed by the permits may include operating hours, noise levels, water usage and discharge, and so on. These limitations are generally in addition to regulatory constraints, such as the clean air standards. Regardless, it is in the company’s best interest to ensure that operations are always practiced within permit limitations.
Often mines are located near or in communities, and their appearance from public areas, e.g. roads and residential developments is a concern. The use of landscaped berms to completely shield operations from public view is a good practice, as are attractive and well-maintained entrances to the mine property. Admittedly, there are some large surface mines that cannot be shielded from public view, e.g. Bingham Canyon copper mine These are the exception, and even in those cases, steps should be taken to improve the appearance through increased green areas on the site and better management of waste and product piles.
Blasting practices at surface mines located near communities are always contentious. We’ll talk about this again under community relations, but the design guidance given in Module 7 is critical to minimizing the technical and public relations problems arising from blasting.
Reclamation is of course mandated by various regulations. Often, within the conditions of the regulations and permits, there is some leeway in timing and methods. In addition to the traditional operating considerations affecting reclamation, the view and perception of the public should be factored into the reclamation planning process. Minimizing both the extent of exposed areas and the time that they remain exposed prior to reclamation becomes important if you are concerned about the bearable in addition to the viable region of the sustainability diagram. Even in operations where much of the reclamation cannot occur until near the end of the mine life, e.g. an open pit mine, small actions can be taken to think about the placement of overburden and waste piles for example. It is likely that the placement of these piles will be driven primarily by mine planning concerns, but whenever possible, sustainability considerations, balancing the viable and bearable regions, must be part of the thinking process.
Simply put, if you want to be accepted into a community, you have to behave like a citizen and strive to become part of the community. You can improve your chances of becoming a part of the community if your behavior and actions strengthen the sense of community.
As a starting point, it may be helpful to think about a few realities. First, even if most people recognize that your mine is providing good jobs and contributing to the tax base, they still don’t want you in “their backyard.” We all drive cars, but how many of us want a car factory nearby? We all take comfort in knowing that a hospital is available in our community, but how many of us would be happy if they broke ground for a new hospital down the street from our house? You get the idea! It’s nothing personal against you or even the company, but people don’t want an increase in traffic, a noise source, or an eyesore in their community. They are concerned about their quality of life and the value of their home. Understanding their concerns is a good starting point to help you understand the task that lies ahead and the journey to become a valued member of the community.
While there is no one “magic bullet,” there are actions that many companies have found productive. Here are commonly mentioned ones.
Community Day: Invite your neighbors for a tour of the mine. Once they better understand what you do and how you do it, they are likely to have a better impression. Combine this with a cookout and a social opportunity for the community to meet and talk with the people who work at the mine. Don’t be afraid to share reclamation and mine closure plans, or to answer questions about the operation. Rather than simply complain about public ignorance, accept that it is your responsibility to educate and inform! And of course, recognize that this is something that requires attention year-round, not just during Community Day.
Citizens Advisory Group: If there are concerns and there is an active citizen's group, work with its members to form an advisory group where they can channel their concerns and engage productively with mine management. However, please understand that if you do this, you and your management must engage in good faith. Otherwise, you are likely to take a difficult situation and turn it into a very bad one!
Employee Engagement: Encourage employees to be active on the school board, in civic organizations, e.g. Rotary Club or Lion’s Club, in schools as speakers, in coaching of kids' sports, or in the scouts, among others. Adapt employee work schedules insofar as is practicable to facilitate their participation. Donate rock kits or informational literature to the schools. Invite science teachers to visit your operation.
Donate to Local Activities: Sponsor the local youth teams for soccer, baseball, softball, and so on. Buy the team new uniforms. Purchase sponsorships in local civic events. Make a donation to the local library’s annual fundraiser.
In-Kind Contributions: depending on the nature of your mining operation, you may have surface construction equipment, trucks, wheeled loaders, dozers, and so on, and you may have construction aggregates and even concrete and/or blacktop (bituminous concrete). You may be able to donate the equipment, along with operators and materials, to redo the local ballfield, or to put in or extend a local bike path, for example. If you cannot support the entire cost on your own, you might be able to donate just the machine time or perhaps the materials. These efforts can net goodwill for years to come.
Be a Good Neighbor, Every Day: Do not play “fast and loose” with the parameters of your operating permits, and make sure that contractors and customers coming onto your site do the same. If trucks are taking product from your yard, make sure they are covering their beds before leaving the property, and while you are at it, make sure they are not tracking mud or stone dust onto the public road. Undercarriage water sprays are commonly used in some operations. Back-up alarms are often noted as the single greatest aggravation within the community. When MSHA regulations allow, consider using strobes instead of audible alarms.
You can look at these community relations activities as a major investment in the equitable region of the sustainability diagram. And remember, it’s not about how much money you spend, it’s about making a genuine effort to strengthen the institutions and organizations that comprise the community through your company’s involvement.
There were four mine explosions in the U.S. in the first decade of this century, including one that was the worst such explosion in the past 40 years. Globally, there several high-profile mine disasters from New Zealand to China to Brazil, and many other countries in between. Although the number of fatalities in each of these was far less than in many other disasters, the public has a much lower tolerance for a mine fatality than other disasters. A typical response to the news headlines by the average person on the street was ‘this is terrible, why do we need to mine, why should we be putting these people at risk?’ And as you might expect, these events provoked strong legislative responses across the globe, resulting in not only legislation for improvements, but in some cases, a substantial over response.
As this played out, the U.S. industry in particular, but the global industry as well, realized that they needed to be more proactive. They realized that it was not sufficient to merely comply with regulations. They needed to take additional steps to eliminate: major safety hazards, e.g. a mine explosion, that result in multiple fatalities; major health hazards, e.g. silica dust, that result in debilitating occupational diseases; and major hazards, e.g. tailing dam failure, that result in environmental disasters. During this period there was every reason to believe that one more high-profile disaster would result in the mining industry losing its “social license” to mine. In other words, the public, and by extension their legislators, would decide that ‘enough-is-enough and we’re going to ban this activity regardless of its other benefits.’ The industry was duly alarmed and knew they had to take action to eliminate these disasters2.
The focus of this discussion is not the general topics of safety, health, and environment, how we apply our engineering and science skills to achieve safe and healthful workplaces, and do so in an environmentally responsible fashion, but rather on the management of safety, health, and environmental activities to help eliminate mining disasters. We, as industry in general and mining in particular, have been complying with regulations for decades, and yet every year workers die and environmental accidents occur. Safety and health were the focal points of the conversation, and the turning point was the report published by the National Commission for Mine Safety, Technology, and Training. This report advocated a more aggressive and proactive approach to mine safety, and the CEOs of the major mining companies signed a pledge committing to take the steps necessary to eliminate fatalities and reduce injuries. Mitigating environmental risks was not addressed at that time. However, the methodology to achieve this concept of zero harm3 in safety and health can be applied directly to the environment scenario as well. In the next lesson, we’ll introduce this methodology.
2In the U.S., a mining accident in which three or more persons are killed is designated as a disaster. This number is determined by MSHA and the number sometimes changes over different presidential administrations.
3 This implies that the activity should be conducted in a way that results in zero harm to the mineworker's safety or health. The concept is directly applicable to the environment as well, indicating that the activity should result in no permanent harm or damage to the environment.