Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Responsibilities do not
include acting as or in place of
governments.
It is equally important to establish what is not the responsibility of a mining company.
Responsibilities do not include acting as or in place of governments, or taking on government
responsibilities towards the development of isolated and underdeveloped regions. Admittedly,
mining companies often i nd it practical and even necessary to undertake actions that should be
the responsibility of the local government. In such cases all efforts should be directed towards
working these issues through with the local government, and eventually assisting the local gov-
ernment in delivering essential infrastructure and certain community services. Providing such
services directly creates a dependence on the mining company that is not sustainable.
2.2 ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT IN THE MINING CYCLE
Environmental assessment should be conducted as early as possible in the mining cycle to
allow environmental mitigation measures to be incorporated into mine planning. A timely
and efi cient environmental assessment will result in informed decision-making that sup-
ports sustainable development, the ultimate goal of environmental assessment. It should
be recognized, however, that there are drawbacks involved in early assessment. These
relate to changes in design that commonly occur in the detailed design stage that fol-
lows the Feasibility Study. These changes may be sufi ciently signii cant to warrant an
Addendum to the approved EIA or even a new EIA. An example is shown in Case 2.1 .
Many environmental regulators are unaware that design changes - usually improvements -
commonly occur after EIA approval. Consequently, not all countries have established mech-
anisms for dealing with such changes and for assessing how the changes affect the various
environmental impacts and the related environmental management measures.
Figure 2.1 illustrates how environmental assessment evolves in stages closely linked to the
life-cycle of a mine. Site selection, environmental screening, initial assessment, and scoping
of signii cant issues are all activities best done at the project concept stage. Of course the loca-
tion of the ore body is i xed, but everything else is very much up to mine planning.
Environmental assessment
should be conducted as early as
possible in the mining cycle to
allow environmental mitigation
measures to be incorporated
into mine planning.
CASE 2.1
Newmont's Batu Hijau Copper-Gold
Project, Sumbawa, Indonesia
Following approval by the
Government of Indonesia of the
EIA documents for this major
project, ongoing metallurgical
studies indicated that the froth
fl otation process for producing
the copper-gold concentrate, could
operate at least as effectively
using sea water as using fresh
water. This represented a major
project improvement, obviating
the need for a large fresh water
reservoir that would otherwise
have been required. Removal of
the planned reservoir also enabled
a more effi cient layout of other
facilities, and removed the need
for a sea water mixing tank in
the Deep Sea Tailings Disposal
System. These changes were pro-
posed and their impacts evaluated
in an Addendum to the EIA, which
was subsequently approved.
 
 
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