A guide to leading practice sustainable development in mining

Introduction
The development and construction phase of a mining project is as critical a stage
of a mine’s life cycle as any other and can often determine how sustainable the
operational phase will be. Many projects, as illustrated by the Mt Todd case study, fail
at this point. There can be a number of reasons for failure including:
Peak demand of funds resulting in cost overruns
Community opposition to the project
Significant and at times, unexpected environmental impact
In this Chapter, development is used as it is typically used in a miner’s lexicon to
refer to the pre-operational phase of a mine’s life. It may include establishment of
infrastructure and access works such as decline or shafts to enable production to
begin. Once production begins the mine is said to be in the operations phase
(see Chapter 4).
Construction is in mining terms a subset of the development phase and its activities
at a mining project create significant and visible changes and impacts on the
environment and community. This short-term stage requires the highest level of
employment, which exceeds the longer-term workforce requirements. The influx of
a construction workforce can provide economic benefits to the local community, and
particularly local businesses, but it can also put pressure on housing and other local
services and have a negative social impact on the community.
Construction activities typically include:
access roads and airstrips.
construction and accommodation camps.
power supply (electricity, gas or diesel).
fuel and chemical storage facilities.
water supply.
process plant.
workshops and warehousing.
contractor lay down areas.
offices, change rooms.
crushing plant.
tailings storage facilities.
waste rock, low-grade and other dumps.
stockpile preparation.
62 LEADING PRACTICE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM FOR THE MINING INDUSTRY