A guide to leading practice sustainable development in mining

Upon completion of the study, researchers were awarded additional funds
from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research to share research findings
with various stakeholders; within the population health field this process
is known as Knowledge Translation (KT). Study indicators identified the
Northern BC coal mining community of Tumbler Ridge to be particularly
vulnerable to mining impacts. As such, researchers developed a KT plan
to share research findings with municipal, health service, and mining
representatives from this community. Overall objectives of the KT strategy
included highlighting the importance of community health to the regional
mining industry with aims of enhancing integrated community planning
towards sustainable mining. A diverse array of KT strategies were undertaken
and included: the development of a research summary report that highlighted
main study findings in non-technical language; the presentation of research
findings at a regional coal mining conference; and the facilitation of a Mining
and Community Health workshop that brought together for the first time
the municipality, health service providers, and the local mining industry to
discuss research findings, evaluate the research summary report, and to
discuss the development of a community sustainability plan. As a result, the
research summary report has been widely distributed and is available online
1 . Interactions between researchers and stakeholders have also sparked
interest in developing ongoing collaborative relationships to further apply the
research evidence. In addition, the importance of the research findings and
recommendations has garnered initial interest from stakeholders associated
with another, newly approved BC mine project.
Figure 2.5 – Community at Tumbler Ridge
*contributed by J.A. Shandro Department of Mining Engineering, The University of British Columbia,
Canada; M. Scoble Department of Mining Engineering, The University of British Columbia, Canada;
M. Koehoorn School of Population and Public Health, The University of British Columbia, Canada.
1 The Mining and Community Health research summary report was prepared by Shandro, Koehoorn, Scoble, and
Hurrell in 2009. Mining and Community Health workshop participants were asked to evaluate a draft of the summary
report to ensure clarity of research findings and applicability and relevance of associated recommendations. The final
report is now available online at: http://www.spph.ubc.ca/sites/healthcare/files/1258418522196.pdf
A GUIDE TO LEADING PRACTICE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN MINING 37