A guide to leading practice sustainable development in mining

Monitoring During Operations
In the simplest terms, monitoring and auditing are processes designed to help
a mining company achieve good sustainable development performance, and
verify that this has been done. In broad terms, this can involve tracking progress
over time, determining whether agreed objectives or standards have been met,
and benchmarking procedures and performance against those of other mining
operations.
What is ‘monitoring and auditing’?
Monitoring is the gathering, analysis and interpretation of information for
the assessment of performance. Examples commonly used in the resources
industry include monitoring of water quality, impacts on flora and fauna (as
well as recovery following the implementation of control or rehabilitation
measures), social aspects and community development, air quality, noise,
vibration, greenhouse gas emissions, and the extent to which rehabilitation
and final land use objectives are being met.
Auditing is systematically reviewing monitoring procedures and results,
and checking that all commitments have been fulfilled or completed by
comparing the audit findings against agreed audit criteria. Auditing can be
undertaken internally, by experts in specific disciplines who provide a check
on methods or success against internal company standards, or externally, by
an independent consultant or expert who can demonstrate transparency and
add value to the audit process.
Many mining and petroleum operations develop integrated management systems,
which may include environment, health and safety, security, community relations
and other aspects, such as planning and construction or financial accounting. Some
examples are Anglo Coal’s Safety, Health, Environment and Community Management
System, BP’s Getting HSE Right, Atlantic Richfield Oil Company’s Operating
Excellence System, BHP Billiton’s Health, Safety, Environment and Community
Management System and the Oxiana Integrated Management System (OXims) used
by Minerals and Metals Group (formerly Oxiana). These systems may be audited
regularly by internal auditors, or by external auditors commissioned by the company.
In some cases they are audited by the lending institutions funding mining operations.
The MMG audit outcomes help to fulfil its social and environmental obligations
(including legal and contractual obligations), as well as MMG’s voluntarily imposed
standards of practice and behaviour as defined by the OXims standards. The OXims
standards are applicable to all phases of mine life (including exploration, scoping,
feasibility and project design; construction; operation; closure; and post-closure
monitoring). The standards provide direction to project teams, operations personnel
and technical specialists.
A GUIDE TO LEADING PRACTICE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN MINING 105