Mining and Sustainable Development II - DTIE

Mining
ronmental management systems and tools such as
ISO 14000, EIA and environmental accounting
have made environmental programmes a part of
mainstream corporate management. There has
also been a move towards more life-cycle approaches,
with supply-chain management and extended
producer responsibility now being taken more seriously
by larger companies.
The recent acceptance by industry of the need
for some voluntary measures and codes on environment
to complement (or even to forestall) government
regulation has resulted in action on a
range of matters that have not so far been regulated.
Consideration of these and other approaches
needs to be applied to abandoned sites.
Industry is also becoming more involved in the
global and national policy debates on sustainable
development. Through various environmental
codes, business charters and other commitments,
companies are now more conscious of the need to
address social issues, to adopt ethical positions,
and to acknowledge that sustainable development
is about values as much as about economics. Their
commitment to sustainable mineral development
now needs to be practically applied.
Conclusion
Although there have been few attempts at quantification,
it is generally understood that the issue
of abandoned or ‘orphan’ mine sites is a major
unresolved environmental and social problem for
the industry. Potential impacts include a range of
health and safety problems, and extensive economic
impacts due to resource degradation and
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water pollution. So far there are only a small number
of systematic programmes to deal with the
issue. However, experience with similar problems
in contaminated industrial sites and with rehabilitation
of operational mines has provided sufficient
elements to allow for a serious start on the
orphan sites problem.
Notes
1 In China, mining waste is stockpiled on 2 million
hectares of desperately needed land.
2 Information from 2 papers presented by Metal
Mining Agency of Japan at the 3 rd Asia Pacific
Training Workshop on Hazardous Waste Management
on Mining, Beijing, China, September
2000.
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Training small scale miners:
the video project
Grant Mitchell, Senior Policy Analyst, Minerals and Energy Policy Centre, P.O. Box 395,
Wits, 2050, South Africa
Introduction
Following on from the recommendations of a
White Paper on a new mineral policy, South
Africa’s National Steering Committee of Service
Providers to the Small Scale Mining Sector
(NSC), was tasked with developing the sector.
The Capacity Building Sub Committee in particular
was to be responsible for production of a
training course for small scale miners.
Developing a policy proposal is one thing, but
it is quite another matter to translate such proposals
into tangible results. The acid test for the
NSC is when its dozen pilot projects become
fully-fledged self-sustaining mining operations.
Developing the capacity of the small scale miners
manning these operations is of critical importance
in this process.
The mining hierarchy in South Africa is well
documented. A few large and powerful companies
have for the past one hundred years held a
monopoly on mineral rights, access to finance and
technological expertise. Small scale miners, in
contrast, generally come from the most economically
marginalized sectors of society – the “poorest
of the poor”. Educational levels are extremely
low. In fact most small scale or artisinal miners are
illiterate and have a poor understanding of the
new legislative framework despite the efforts of
KWAGGA to disseminate the contents of the
White Paper to communities affected by mining.
There is also a poorly developed understanding of
technology deployed and of business planning
and marketing.
Training for empowerment
Clearly training is a vital component in assisting
small scale miners in advancing from subsistence
levels to profitable operations. The challenge is to
develop a tailor-made course that can propel small
scale miners from pick and shovel operations
towards mechanized ones. This also means that
what was previously an unregulated activity may
become legitimate. The task facing the Capacity
Building Sub Committee is to package the information
in such a way that core competencies can
be acquired and skills transferred.
In the light of the above, it was decided that the
most cost-effective form of training would be to
develop a video production explaining in simple
terms the key requirements of the legislative and
regulatory environment, as well as other basic
skills required for mining, such as business planning.
Without such an understanding small scale
mining will be an environmental disaster area in
South Africa, and will also act as a conduit for
unscrupulous operators who will use small scale
operators for their own, often illegal, ends.
Language and literacy is a huge issue confronting
any training effort. For this reason it was
decided to use the medium of video as the principal
teaching method, supplemented by facilitators
who will negotiate content and direct the discussions.
It is also proposed to translate the videos
into all the languages spoken in South Africa.
Course content and training strategy
The course content will cover all the key pieces of
legislation relevant to any existing or prospective
miner. For example, health and safety legislation,
mineral rights and permitting, labour legislation
and environmental standards will be presented.
There will also be a specific course on how to
develop a small business venture and all that this
entails: budgeting, planning, taxation, etc.
In terms of training strategy, it is proposed that
the course, which comes complete with a trainers
guide, should be presented initially to the 12 small
scale mining projects which are currently being
driven by the NSC. Trainers will be identified
from each of these projects and given a “train the
trainers” course. It is also hoped that the videos
can be distributed to a wider group and even used
as source material, i.e. in schools and Technikons.
Conclusions
The video-training project is a first step in using
education as a tool to both empower and regulate
the sector. This is an important starting point but
must be viewed as just that – a starting point.
Running a mining operation, even a small one, is
a complex business and one that requires on-site
training as well as, most importantly, mentorship.
What is critical for the success of this sector is to
identify suitably qualified and experienced people
to provide the project management expertise.
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38 ◆ UNEP Industry and Environment – Special issue 2000