Was the Environmental Assessment Adequate? - Mining and the Environment: From Ore to Metal - page 502

12.2 ENVIRONMENTAL MINE AUDITS

Environmental auditing, as the name suggests, is similar to i nancial auditing. It aims
to evaluate the environmental performance of the mine, and to assess the effectiveness of
management systems and programmes. As with i nancial auditors, environmental auditors
are liable for their actions, and so can not afford to be other than independent and objective.

Audit History

As with environmental impact assessment, environmental auditing had its beginnings in the
USA in the early 1970s. Originally applied to US multinational companies (such as the General
Motors Auditing Program, 1972), it was soon extended to a wide range of industries. The initial
concept of an environmental audit was a response to increased environmental awareness and
liability rel ected in the publication of several environmental regulations (Clean Air Act, 1970;
Clean Water Act, 1972; Toxic Substances Control, 1976; Resources Conservation and Recovery
Act, 1976). The environmental audit initially represented an independent and systematic proc-
ess to evaluate compliance with prevailing environmental regulations.
The nature of environmental audits has changed signii cantly since that time. It was
soon recognized that the audit process is useful well beyond merely identifying regulatory
violations, by analyzing the causes of non-compliance, and environmental risks, and for
evaluating environmental systems and programmes to ensure compliance. Today's audits
are as much management audits as they are compliance audits, and environmental audit-
ing has become an essential element of environmental management worldwide.
The environmental audit offers the mining industry an opportunity to improve its envi-
ronmental image in the eyes of the public. The mining industry in particular is working
hard to overcome the negative environmental image under which it operates. Tailings
dam failures such as in Guyana, at the Marcopper mine in the Philippines, and the widely
publicized tailings dam failure in Los Frailes, Spain, do not help this image and have
reverberations in the mining industry throughout the world. Adverse publicity over the
Ok Tedi mine in PNG and, some years ago, the New South Wales government's refusal to
grant permission for a US$ 1 billion gold project to proceed, citing environmental reasons,
is representative of this attitude which is fueled by the environmental lobby groups.

Today's audits are as much
management audits as they are
compliance audits.

Audit Type

The nature and type of environmental audit varies with the objective of the audit. Audits
therefore have a number of different formats, of which the four most common are sum-
marized here.
Environmental Compliance Audits are usually carried out internally and are used to assess
compliance with existing Environmental Laws and Regulations. These audits are usually
conducted annually. In mining they are also used to assess compliance with commitments
made in the Environmental Impact Assessment and in the Environmental Management and
Monitoring Plans. Many multinational companies measure their performance against best
industry practice (Benchmark Audit) or against internal company standards which can be
more stringent than most international criteria. Also auditing of mining operations for com-
pliance with the Equator Principles is becoming increasingly important.
Environmental Performance Audits are internal audits which are designed to track envi-
ronmental objectives against specii c targets. These are similar to i nancial or production