A guide to leading practice sustainable development in mining

esponsibility for stewardship in their specific industry, it is a fundamental principle
of stewardship that those participants also have a concern in the other industries of
the life cycle.
An example of stewardship opportunities to reduce sustainability impacts by acting
during the development stage of an operation is provided by the Anglo Coal operations
in the Queensland Bowen Basin. Removing the methane gas accumulations before
mining, results in the elimination of both an explosion risk and a potent greenhouse
gas. Furthermore the gas can be used directly in energy production. For example,
Anglo Coal has entered into an agreement with Energy Developments Limited for
construction of a gas-fired power project at its Capcoal mine.
This project will utilise methane drained from underground mining operations for
on-site generation of electricity—sufficient to supply a small town. The 32 megawatt
project, consisting of 16 reciprocating engines each with two megawatt output, is
supported by a Commonwealth Government grant. The greenhouse gas mitigation
effect of the power project at full capacity will be 1.2 million tonnes of carbon dioxide
equivalent per year, including the effect of displacing the emissions from alternative
fuels that would otherwise be used to generate the equivalent amount of electricity
supplied to the state grid. That amount of mitigation is equivalent to planting 1.6
million trees or taking 250 000 cars off the roads.
Minimising waste, generating power and cutting back on greenhouse gas emissions
is an excellent example of stewardship that benefits the environment and the bottom
line (see LP Stewardship p.24).
Planning, Design and Construction
of Tailings Storage Facilities
Introduction
The international mining industry has learnt many lessons over the last decade
that have helped to develop leading practice tailings management in Australia. The
International Commission on Large Dams (ICOLD) Bulletin 121 (2001) provided a
comprehensive report of these lessons, drawing from a range of tailings storage facility
failures and incidents. The main causes of failures and incidents identified were:
lack of control of the water balance
lack of control of construction
a general lack of understanding of the features that control safe operations.
Conventional economic analysis can lead to minimising initial capital expenditure
on tailings construction and deferring the costs of rehabilitation (see case study
LP Tailings). Net present value analysis discounts the current cost of future
expenditures on closure, rehabilitation and post-closure management. Therefore,
if this short-term economic perspective is taken, without taking into account the
longer-term social and environmental costs, there is little motivation to invest more
substantially at the development stage to avoid or reduce expenditures at the
closure stage. There is however a number of reasons for applying leading practice at
A GUIDE TO LEADING PRACTICE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN MINING 81