Environmental Impact Assessment - Mining and the Environment: From Ore to Metal - page 76

to request additional resources in a timely manner. The project manager should be directly
involved in developing the scope of work and in the consultant selection process, including
preparation of the consultant selection criteria. Where a project manager has not previously
been through the EIA process it is common for him to be assisted by someone who has -
either someone from the company or an individual retained from elsewhere. It is most
likely that the bulk of the technical analyses for an EIA will be done by consultants under
a third-party contract arrangement. An efi cient consultant selection process therefore
will avoid delays in initiating an EIA. The selection of consultants who can devote the
right combination of skills and resources to the job prevents delays throughout the EIA
process.
It is important to establish critical milestones for the completion of EIA tasks and to
maintain as tight a schedule as possible. Schedules should be realistic and commensurate
with the level of complexity of the EIA. Agreements between companies and governments
commonly contain time schedules based on past experience, rather than any foreknowl-
edge of the potential project. For complex projects requiring more time for planning and
evaluation, the schedule in the agreement may be inadequate. In such cases, companies
have sometimes taken risky short-cuts to meet arbitrary contractual deadlines, when bet-
ter, more informed decisions could have resulted, had more time been available. Again,
l exibility on the part of both government and company is desirable. Schedules are subject
to factors beyond the company's control and can change sometimes several times over the
course of an EIA. Flexibility in adjusting schedules is essential, both to loosen schedules
when needed and to tighten up schedules on remaining tasks to make up for earlier sched-
ule slippages.
A key element of the project manager's responsibility is quality control. If qual-
ity control is compromised, there will be delays when analyses and documentation do
not pass legal reviews. The best measure of successful EIA management is that the
environmental process does not produce conceptual, methodological, or informational
surprises towards the end; therefore the choice of an experienced consultant team is essen-
tial. The project manager, supported by others assigned to the EIA, needs to look ahead,
identify issues and problems as early as possible, and initiate appropriate and timely addi-
tional analysis, consultation, or other efforts that will lead to successful resolution and
completion of the environmental process.

A key element of the project
manager's responsibility is quality
control.

Managing the EIA Process as the Consultant

'If I am spending a lot of money I want to have somebody who has more experience
than I have.'

I want advice, not juniors
measuring small turtles.

'I want advice, not juniors measuring small turtles.'

'You should do more hand-holding - educate us on the regulatory process, on the pitfalls,
and how to avoid them.'

'I am not your QA/QC consultant!'

Ask any mining company about their experience with consultants during the EIA process.
Some companies will be full of praise; the majority however will air their frustration built
up during the EIA process as expressed in the few quotations above. To earn praise, the
project manager of the selected consultant needs to know what the company wants, and
what it i nds counter-productive or annoying.