A guide to leading practice sustainable development in mining

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In spite of the increasing level of knowledge about cyanide and its proper management in mining, significant environmental incidents—some involving water bodies—have continued to occur globally (Donato et al. 2007). These incidents attract concern from regulators and the public, and have led to calls for cyanide use in mining to be banned. A list of major cyanide incidents is provided in Box 1. In Australia, most spills of cyanide have occurred during transport to mine sites. An example of how one mine manages the environmental risk of cyanide in its tailings storage facilities is provided by Sunrise Dam in Western Australia. The AngloGold Ashanti Sunrise Dam gold mine (SDGM) operation is located 55 kilometres south of Laverton, Western Australia. The mine is situated immediately to the east of the hyper saline Lake Carey and is surrounded by numerous other smaller saline lakes. The operation is comprised of an open pit and underground mining operations as well as processing operations. The tailings dam is currently a 320 hectare, single-cell CTD facility (central discharge system). Under normal operational conditions the thickened tailings are deposited at approximately 65 percent solids and there is minimal or no supernatant liquor or associated ponding from tails discharge. The central discharge system essentially results in conical stacking of dry tails. A stock and wildlife-proof electric fence has been erected around the perimeter of the structure. Unique to this broader region the processing solutions and tailings are hyper saline, about 190 000 TDS or six times more saline than seawater. Monitoring of waste stream solutions revealed that the concentrations of weak acid dissociable (WAD) cyanide in the tailings dam were in excess of 50 milligrams per litre WAD cyanide on 72 percent of sampled days. WAD cyanide concentrations of supernatant pooling at times exceeded 50 milligrams per litre. The protective mechanisms of reducing cyanide-bearing habitats (by management and tailings system design), lack of food provisions, minimal water and hyper-salinity have resulted in no observed effect on wildlife. It was hypothesised that these mechanisms provide protective measures by eliminating and reducing the wildlife exposure pathways to those solutions (see LP Cyanide p.11). Figure 4.5 – Sunrise Dam TSF A GUIDE TO LEADING PRACTICE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN MINING 101
Box 1: Major recent incidents involving cyanide 1. In May 1998 loss of 1800 kilograms of sodium cyanide to the Barskaun River, Kyrgyzstan, followed a truck accident en route to the Kumtor mine (Hynes et al. 1999). 2. In 1995 thousands of migratory and non-migratory waterbirds were killed at the tailings dam of the Northparkes mine, NSW, Australia, due to a poor understanding of the significance of cyanide chemistry and inappropriate analytical procedures (Environment Australia 2003). 3. In 2000 the tailings impoundment at Baia Mare, Romania, was breached, releasing a cyanide plume which travelled for 2000 kilometres downstream, killing very large numbers of fish in the Tisza and Danube rivers, and disrupting the water supply (UNEP/ OCHA 2000) (Environment Australia 2003). Excessive treatment of cyanide with hypochlorite and chlorine exacerbated the problem. 4. A pallet of dry cyanide product, which fell from a helicopter en route to the Tolukuma gold mine in Papua New Guinea in 2000, was successfully cleaned up (Noller & Saulep 2004). 5. Cyanide solution from an incompletely discharged ISOtainer was allegedly released on the roadside after a delivery truck left a mine in the Northern Territory in 2002. 6. Due to confusion over the number of valves in the cyanide plant at the San Andres mine, Honduras, 1200 litres of cyanide solution was discharged into the Lara River in January 2002. 7. Water contaminated with cyanide entered the Asuman River from the Tarkwa gold mine in the Wassa West District of Ghana in October 2001, killing fish and disrupting local water supplies. Another discharge into the river from a ventilation shaft in January 2003 rekindled community health and safety concerns, although this water was later shown to be potable. 8. In February 2007, a road train carrying three 20-tonne containers of solid sodium cyanide in the Northern Territory tipped over, spilling pellets onto the side of the road and into a non-flowing watercourse. Most spilled product was collected, and contaminated water and soil were cleaned up and disposed of at a nearby mine site. A number of gold mines use cyanide destruction techniques in order to reduce the risk of environmental impact in tailings deposition. The Granites lease is about 550 kilometres north-west of Alice Springs and is owned and operated by Newmont Tanami Operations (NTO). It has been operating since the mid 1980s. The mine initially placed tailings in conventional paddock tailings storage facilities (TSF) and later expanded this practice to inpit tailings disposal. In-pit tailings disposal has the advantage of storing tailings in a safe repository; filling a void that would otherwise remain open; and reduce the potential for wildlife mortalities especially birds. 102 LEADING PRACTICE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM FOR THE MINING INDUSTRY
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LEADING PRACTICE SUSTAINABLE DEVELO
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Disclaimer This publication has bee
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3.0 DEVELOPMENT AND CONSTRUCTION 61
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The Leading Practi
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viii LEADING PRACTICE SUSTAINABLE D
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1.0 INTRODUCTION The Purpose and La
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Airborne Contaminants, Noise and Vi
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Water Management (LP Water) This ha
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Site water team Corporate managemen
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Sustainable Mining There is no one
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Mining the resource efficiently. Th
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Efficiency SUSTAINABLE MINING PRACT
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LOCATION: Vilabouly District, Savan
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Leading Practice The handbooks in t
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2.0 PRE-DEVELOPMENT: MINERAL EXPLOR
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The application of high standard en
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The Business Case for Sustainabilit
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The information obtained from these
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conditions are appropriate. In NSW,
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Such richness also brings challenge
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The dunefields of Shelburne Bay had
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Community Engagement in the Early S
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Baseline studies and social impact
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Upon completion of the study, resea
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The scenarios envisaged for the Wat
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2. Reflections on the significance
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Engaging with Indigenous communitie
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Figure 2.9 - A New Township under C
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Geochemical assessment aims to iden
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Regardless of the project phase (ex
Page 62 and 63: Evaluating Performance: Monitoring
Page 64 and 65: For these reasons, it is important
Page 66 and 67: Risk Management and Exploration Exp
Page 68 and 69: Post-mining & closure Resource deve
Page 70: level of family diversity was maint
Page 73 and 74: Introduction The development and co
Page 75 and 76: MINE: Mt Todd LOCATION: Near Kather
Page 77 and 78: Airborne Contaminants, Noise and Vi
Page 79 and 80: Biodiversity Management During Deve
Page 81 and 82: Rather than taking a generic approa
Page 83 and 84: Step 2: Working in collaboration On
Page 85 and 86: course was designed to train and pr
Page 87 and 88: Adjustments for changes in the mine
Page 89 and 90: indicators of high importance durin
Page 91 and 92: Operating major mining projects pre
Page 93 and 94: the earliest stage of development,
Page 95 and 96: Watercourse diversions In order to
Page 97 and 98: Figure 3.7 - Morwell River after di
Page 99 and 100: tailings disposal techniques contin
Page 101 and 102: Figure 4.2 - Predicted blast overpr
Page 103 and 104: Responsible management of biodivers
Page 105 and 106: Leading practice management of wate
Page 107 and 108: MINE: Pierina Mine LOCATION: Distri
Page 109 and 110: Weipa - a sustainable approach to t
Page 111: Adopting the International Cyanide
Page 115 and 116: MINE: Chatree gold mine LOCATION: P
Page 117 and 118: The audit outcomes also highlight t
Page 119 and 120: Mercury for gold recovery in small/
Page 121 and 122: Figure 4.9 - Geological control to
Page 123 and 124: highest rating group for the whole
Page 125 and 126: Figure 4.13 - Beverley uranium mine
Page 127 and 128: from 2.5 - 3.0 tonnes/man-shift to
Page 129 and 130: Figure 4.17 - Sunrise Dam TSF Taili
Page 131 and 132: Dry stacking bauxite residue is now
Page 133 and 134: Once the water is used underground
Page 135 and 136: The Rio Tinto “Excellence in Wate
Page 137 and 138: Background Image: Sourced from GOOG
Page 139 and 140: Company policies and government reg
Page 142 and 143: 5.0 MINE REHABILITATION AND CLOSURE
Page 144 and 145: Closure involves the implementation
Page 146 and 147: Biodiversity and Closure Introducti
Page 148 and 149: e better than the high standard bei
Page 150 and 151: Figure 5.7 - Pasture and shelter tr
Page 152 and 153: The Argyle Diamonds case study (see
Page 154 and 155: support and on site accommodation a
Page 156 and 157: Having the right information to mak
Page 158 and 159: Figure 5.13 - Misima after rehabili
Page 160 and 161: In January 2011, the PNG government
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MINE: Former lignite mines LOCATION
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Fig 5.16: Former Minister Stein Coa
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Figure 5.19 - Rehabilitated mine si
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Figure 5.21 - Pit water treatment p
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Final Rehabilitation Rehabilitation
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Figure 5.23: Aerial view of Area 4
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Landform construction In general, e
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The Hsin-Chen Shan quarry terrain i
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Figure 5.29 - Spreading topsoil at
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Risk Management Risk at closure and
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During the 1980s and 1990s, a numbe
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An example of direct vegetation is
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Water Management Central to a mine
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Department of Resources, Energy and
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GLOSSARY AND ACRONYMS Abandoned min
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Biodiversity offsets Conservation a
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Cultural heritage Cultural heritage
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Engagement At its simplest, engagem
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High rate thickener A thickener thr
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NAPP Net Acid Producing Potential,
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Product stewardship This is perhaps
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Risk management process The risk ma
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Sustainable development Sustainable
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A guide to leading practice sustainable development in mining

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