Green Economy Journal Issue 62

MINING
MINING
Kearney Analysis
Figure 3. Impact assessment on water.
• Rehabilitate an unavoidable impact or one that has already
occurred by existing operations
• Offset a remaining or unavoidable impact by considering
compensation and investment options
A good mitigation strategy is both evolutionary, deploying time-tested,
proven best practices (doing things differently) and revolutionary,
bringing in “blue-sky thinking” to set new environmental and social
standards. In some cases, this means a change in execution and
planning. In other cases, investments are required to achieve a
significant impact.
Although there are no standard guidelines or initiatives that will
work for all mines around the world, many global mining companies
are improving performance by sharing more ideas, initiatives and
activities across operating regions.
4. Who should be on the sustainability team, and what is the
best way for team members to work together?
All successful sustainability agendas have two things in common:
they are products of a high-quality implementation within the
company, and they are run by a dedicated team of professionals.
Everyone collaborates to create win-win situations.
All team members have roles to play. Governments, communities
and municipalities establish the rules of the game and balance
requirements (such as operating licenses) against the company’s
sustainability agenda and the financial impact. Companies help
determine and shape these requirements to ensure they are neither
onerous nor lead to inefficient ways of working. All members work
together to stipulate requirements and wishes, which are then
discussed jointly to achieve optimal outcomes. These discussions
often lead to subsidising specific initiatives or technologies that
create a sustainability impact or they may lead to additional skills
and jobs. Also, companies can commit to specific programmes with
other organisations, both local and regional, in priority areas that
have an environmental or social impact. Governments and NGOs
might come back in to connect the dots between companies to
compel larger programmes with a larger impact.
We are often asked how underperforming mines can raise their
sustainability game. One way is to join forces with NGOs in social and
environmental partnerships. NGOs provide expertise and credibility
and often better connectivity to communities. They can help mines
achieve a larger community impact
Execute a sustainability programme
Sustainability requires a structured, comprehensive and organisationwide
effort. This is not the time to cut corners or struggle with
decisions about sustainability initiatives versus other priorities. The
urgency of operations catches up with firms that are interested in
making a difference. When discussing sustainability with mining
companies, we generally recommend the following guidelines to
achieve an immediate impact and a longer-term growth advantage:
1. Own the initiative from the top down
Ownership from the board level down must be the driving force
behind any sustainability initiative. Mandate the programme
and provide guidelines for dealing with trade-offs. Manage a
sustainability programme the same way you manage other large
change efforts and integrate it within the overall strategy and
performance management of the company. It is important to
report results using well-established and widely accepted reporting
standards and to ensure that a wide stakeholder group is actively
involved in the effort.
2. Organise for success by embedding, not imposing
Embed a small team at the centre of the organisation to drive
and consolidate all sustainability efforts. Create a framework and
guidelines to track and prioritise across the project portfolio.
Share updates often and identify experts who are linked to senior
management. Connect sustainability team members to reporting
and communications processes and involve them in significant
developments and decision-making. Focus on weaving sustainability
into the operations function.
Embed activities at the mines throughout all levels of the organisation
with clear roles and responsibilities. Sustainability must become a
part of the day-to-day job, rather than a separate function that has no
power to drive and implement changes. Discuss sustainability during
meetings with key stakeholders. Build awareness and capabilities
from the top down to workers on the shop floor. Empower supervisors
to foster the desired culture and set the right examples. Clear
communication with the operators in the mine is essential.
3. Measure and “incentivise”
Define a sustainability key performance indicator (KPI) tree with
cascading SMART KPIs linked to operations. The tree addresses the
framework categories and uses clear definitions to make sense at
all levels of the organisation and across businesses. Think outside
the box by, for example, deploying tools such as community surveys
and defining incentive structures that tie sustainability KPIs to other
areas such as profitability, output and other financial goals to make
them relevant. Tying 10% of total incentives to sustainability does
not keep sustainability top of mind. It is far better to monitor and
measure sustainability-driven operational KPIs structurally based
on defined intervals and clear ways of measuring.
4. Aim before shooting
Choose a starting point and define success from that point onward.
Most sustainability programmes evolve, so it is important to define
success early in terms of the focus and what steps to take. A good
example is optimising energy performance by addressing both the
bottom line and sustainability:
• Instill transparency and a baseline of energy consumption and
emissions across operations with a common definition, such
as kilowatt hour per ton of rock for processing equipment
• Integrate sustainability into the planning process to breathe
energy into the life of mine planning and the new mine
development process
• Define roles and responsibilities, and document and measure
the impact
• Invest in new technologies with reduced energy intensity or
better water- or air-cleaning functionalities for the same mine
output; think in terms of highly efficient fans, battery chargers,
and pumps (where payback typically occurs in less than one
year) or ice plants, closed-loop pumping systems, and heat
pumps (where payback takes longer)
• Build capabilities throughout the organisation
• Finally, it’s time to shoot: drive the reductions through thoughtful,
meticulous execution
5. Create a flywheel effect
Like any transformation effort, celebrate and communicate the
small quick wins to create a sense of achievement that propels the
organisation toward larger successes.
Sustainability belongs at the heart of mining operations
All sustainable mines have certain success factors in common. A welldesigned
framework ensures that the elements of sustainability are
addressed and that solutions are embedded into mining operations.
There should be no difference between operating a mine for efficiency
and operating for sustainability.
We believe that mining will grow into a more sustainable industry
– operating in a community’s best interest while minimising the
impact on the environment.
Kearney Analysis
Figure 4. Influence and impact by mining phase. 1 Potential impact - measures can be taken to offset impact and reduce the “cumulative impact”.
Figure 5. Mitigation of environmental impact.
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