Adapted from Waste & Recycling News
As an industry dependent on natural resources, mining companies face their greatest environmental challenge in managing one in particular: water. Necessary for all components of hard rock mining - exploration, mining, processing, smelting and refining - this liquid is the source of intense investment, vigilant monitoring and great debate.
"As a company, we go to great lengths and expense to ensure we are responsibly protecting water resources," said Omar Jabara, senior director of communications and media relations.
Newmont, the first gold company selected to be part of the Dow Jones' Sustainability Index in 2007, uses a number of tools to protect water, including ongoing water monitoring to ensure water quality continues to meet or exceed established standards.
"Also, where necessary, we use dewatering and drainage solutions in addition to water treatment," Jabara said. "Our internal standard on water management requires that discharged water serving as a drinking source meet the U.S. EPA's primary drinking water standards where the laws and regulations of the host country are insufficient or incomplete."
According to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, by 2030, about 47 percent of the world's population will be living under severe water stress if no new policies are introduced. Most of these people - about 3.9 billion - will be living in developing countries where undiscovered ore bodies likely will be unearthed in coming decades.
At the intersection of this issue is mining reform legislation currently being considered by Congress known as the Hardrock Mining and Reclamation Act of 2009 and the Abandoned Mine Reclamation Act of 2009, both of which are opposed by the National Mining Association, the voice of the American mining industry in Washington and the only national trade organization that represents the interests of mining before Congress, the White House, federal agencies and the judiciary.
Among other things such as use of federal lands, payment of royalties and creating a comprehensive program for permitting and enforcement, these bills, as written, increase U.S. dependence on foreign minerals and threaten the
development of renewable energy infrastructure and renewable sources of energy, the NMA contends.
Environmental groups such as Earthworks believe that proposed regulations don't go far enough when addressing water-related impacts of mining, which have resulted in polluted waters across the country and the globe.
According to the NMA, the mineral mining industry is among the most heavily regulated in the world, complying with scores of federal and states laws, including the Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, Endangered Species Act and the Resources Conservation and Recovery Act, among others.
Steve Ralbovsky, U.S. Mining Leader for PricewaterhouseCoopers, said in the face of complex environmental issues such as land use and water quality, the mining industry is often misunderstood.
"There are a lot of people looking at what mining companies are trying to do in terms of getting permits and some of those people aren't in favor of those permits being granted," Ralbovsky said. "There are a lot of people out there who simply don't understand the industry, and say, 'You're digging up the land,' yet they are sitting at their computer that is full of copper in a house with copper wire on a cement pad. There are people out there who have a negative view of mining without realizing how vital it is to everything we do."
Being good environmental stewards is important to sustainability for mineral mining companies like Rio Tinto and Newmont.
"The gold or whatever metal it might be is placed around the earth where God put it; we don't get to choose where it is," Jabara said. "There are lots of companies that can go and mine those resources wherever they occur. We want to establish our reputation as such so that when those deposits are found, that local government wants us to develop the resource."
December 1,2009
