Mining and Sustainable Development II - DTIE

Mining
Box 2
Cyanide spill from the tailings dam at Baia Mare in early 2000
In January 2000 a tailings pond from a gold
recovery plant in Baia Mare released tonnes of
wastewater containing cyanide from the
process used to recover gold. The spill affected
rivers in Romania, Hungary and Yugoslavia
and resulted in the death of virtually all aquatic
life in the affected rivers.
The United Nations Environment Programme
(UNEP) and the United Nations
Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian
Affairs (OCHA) carried out an investigation of
the incident and produced a joint report. The
report indicates that deficiencies in the design
of the process used, inadequate operating conditions
and bad weather contributed to the
release of cyanide from the tailings pond.
The plant was operating within the government
permits issued to it as a “regular risk”. A
“regular risk” plant is described as a “closed
loop” that would not leak any cyanide during
the recovery of the gold. The UNEP report says
that the facility was in fact open at two points,
allowing cyanide to leak even before the dam
was breached.
Some affected towns disconnected water
supplies from the contaminated rivers to prevent
residents from drinking water containing
cyanide. In other areas the sale of most freshwater
fish was banned. The social affects of the
spill are significant as many of the villages along
the affected rivers are dependent on them for
their incomes, from the local fishing industry
It is at this second stage that actions based on
the four secondary principles mentioned above
are formalized. Pollution prevention laws are
directed at controlling emissions and/or establishing
standards (e.g. for air or water quality). In
some but not all cases, plans and policies are introduced
to encourage the wise use of natural
resources. National parks and nature conservation
areas ensure that some parts of the environment
are kept natural. Laws are passed to protect rare or
endangered animals and plants.
At this stage both coercion and encouragement
may be used, depending on the circumstances.
For example, some compulsion may be associated
with overseeing the design and operation of
tailings containment facilities. It is at this stage
that proposals for expansion may result in industry
being directed to rehabilitate old sites, or the
reworking of old tailings may be proposed as a
better “walk away” solution.
Some governments are using a mix of encouragement
and coercion in their dealings with the
mining industry by setting required limits or
expected performance standards for a site and
allowing the operator to determine how it will
meet these requirements. This enables companies
to perform their operations with the technology
of their choice and to achieve their economic
objectives through their own strategies rather than
being limited by the conditions and processes set
down by the government. More responsibility for
or agriculture. As a result of requests from residents
and governments of these areas, a mobile
UNEP laboratory has been made available for
sampling in the region and a Baia Mare Task
Force has been set up by the European Union.
A large number of mines and other recovery
plants operate in the area and a number of
other spill incidents have occurred in the region
and elsewhere since Baia Mare. This has led to
actions such as a review of the mining industry’s
design and operational codes by UNEP, to
ensure that the industry makes a positive contribution
to sustainable development, while
minimizing risks to the local populations and
the environment.
UNEP is now working with stakeholders to
address questions regarding the mining industry,
including:
◆ Emergency preparedness and response at
mine sites;
◆ Revised design and operating codes for
cyanide processes;
◆ Developing new international standards for
fail-safe concepts in tailings dams;
◆ Reviews of permit and inspection procedures
of hazardous mining installations;
◆ Training workshops for national inspectorates
in risk assessments and enforcement;
and
◆ The publication of a guide to best practice
water management at mines.
the management of infrequent risks with high
impacts is taken on by the company. Governments
must have mechanisms to punish operators
when their risk management strategies fail and
incidents occur, to ensure this situation is effective
in protecting the environment. Governments
need to have mechanisms for compensation when
environmental damage occurs, including the use
of financial punishments.
Stage 3: Encourage better performance
Once significant progress has been made at Stages
1 and 2, it is feasible to encourage industry to go
beyond required standards. At Stage 3, governments
should focus on working with industry
rather than on command. Most of the industry is
already aiming at continuous improvement and
this can be expected to achieve more than the coercive
standards of a government, since industry has
the necessary technical skills, management capacity
and business incentive to improve its operations.
Added to this, the mining industry operates
worldwide in many different circumstances and
with different levels of government standards. The
initiatives of industry leaders, or the industry as a
whole, towards sustainable development and continuous
improvement is not bound or limited to
the standards or legislation of any government, but
rather by the industry’s own expectations, and by
how its members want their operations, reputation
and performance to be perceived.
Governments can provide encouragement
through a variety of economic instruments, such
as load-based licenses or differential taxes on environmentally
sound products. They can also promote
concepts such as cleaner production,
environmental management systems, or the use of
mine improvement plans to encourage industry
to continually improve beyond the required standards
of a country.
If the use of authority, which was appropriate
at the previous stages, is extended to this partnership
stage then the system will fail. It is not appropriate
to use coercive approaches to require
industry to do better than regulations require, or
for government to prescribe the means of achieving
further improvements in performance. The
role of government at this stage is to encourage
better performance and to assist industry’s
improved performance by removing obstacles,
encouraging innovation and improvement, and
providing a more amenable atmosphere in which
industry can function.
How should the mining industry
respond?
While some parts of the mining industry have
been slow to respond to the challenge, the best
performers are showing the way to sustainable
development. Three examples of actions by industry,
some in conjunction with governments, are
given in Box 3.
The most cost-effective environmental protection
is obtained when the environment is considered
at the start of a project. It is therefore somewhat
surprising that, in the case of many mines,
consideration, planning and management of mine
rehabilitation, etc. still take place after the mine
has already begun to operate. There are already
too many mined-out sites in the world where
insufficient planning, an unsatisfactory initial
choice of equipment and inadequate rehabilitation
provisions have left a legacy of environmental
costs.
The industry response with regard to new and
existing mines is nevertheless improving. Alcoa of
Australia has been one of the leaders, with its rehabilitation
of open-cut bauxite mines in the forest
areas of Western Australia. Rehabilitation was
planned for each 30-hectare pod before mining
began. Mining equipment was chosen according
to its suitability for use in rehabilitation work;
mines were constructed so as to allow management
of run-off water; mine floors were decompacted;
topsoil and overburden were transferred
from new pods to the previous ones for rehabilitation;
and seed banks, nutrient reserves, seedling
selection and plant disease were studied so that a
juvenile forest compatible with the surroundings
could be planted. Today a number of other mining
operations have had similar successes.
There is now a significant body of “how to” literature,
both national and international, on environmental
protection in the mining industry.
Among the most useful publications are: UNEP’s
Mine Rehabilitation for Environment and Health
Protection: A Training Manual; the Australian
Mineral and Energy Environment Foundation’s
34 ◆ UNEP Industry and Environment – Special issue 2000