Community Development - Mining and the Environment: From Ore to Metal - page 640

security services will be necessary. More often than not, a private security team will be
established to manage security at the project site. The primary task of the security team
is to protect the mine's property and personnel, and to reduce safety hazards. Apart from
fenced areas, the security team patrols and guards entrances, service roads, active mine
areas, explosive storages and other facilities within the work area such as auxiliary mine
facilities and overburden and tailings storage facilities.
The size of the security team will increase and decrease with the scale and extent of project
activities, with employment peaking at the peak of construction activities. It is good practice
for the majority of the security team to comprise local people. The security team should be
professionally trained, and highly disciplined. A specii c, particularly strict Code of Conduct
should apply to the private security team. A major consideration is the avoidance of undue use
of force. It is also good practice to formally introduce security managers to the village leaders.
The mining company (and NGOs commenting on police or military involvement in
mining projects) need to realize that government police and army have the ultimate legit-
imate role in law enforcement and protection of national resources. While the presence
of increased government controlled law enforcement units does not necessarily meet with
community approval, a mining company needs to co-operate with these forces and fre-
quently to provide accommodation, subsistence, and other support. It should also be recog-
nized that national budget allocations for security and defence in many countries requires
that police and/or military forces involved in security of privately owned projects are paid
for by the project proponent.

Environmental Programmes

Mining and associated activities destroy much of the environment in the immediate project
area, at least temporarily. These are the direct effects. Indirect stress on existing environmen-
tal resources may result from the increased population in the project area. Improved access to
previously inaccessible areas may add further stress to local fauna and l ora, due to increased
hunting or natural resource harvesting activities. But mining can also be benei cial for the
existing environment, a fact that is unfortunately too often ignored by the media and many
NGOs. Mining generates funds that, if wisely allocated, help protect existing environmental
resources. Without mining, much of the existing environment is threatened by a combina-
tion of natural and human-induced factors. In most cases these factors are detrimental, and
may include logging, land use changes, or uncontrolled settlement. Mining can help to pro-
tect existing natural habitats of signii cant value from these changes (see also Case 9.2 ).
Cultural heritage sites are important, not only for the communities for which these
sites are important, but for the world community as a whole. Located in remote locations,
cultural sites or issues of cultural heritage often only become apparent during the project
planning process. Some countries, such as Australia, maintain registers of cultural herit-
age sites but, even so, anthropological studies for environmental baseline purposes, often
identify previously undocumented sites. There are established procedures for addressing
issues of cultural signii cance, including maintaining the secrecy of site locations when this
is required by traditional cultural lore. Contrary to common perception, a mining project,
through careful planning, will support protecting cultural heritage sites, and make them
accessible to a wider audience, if appropriate, or otherwise maintain their secrecy. Ore bod-
ies located in close proximity to cultural sites have, in some instances, been left unmined to
avoid damage to the sites - for example the Jabiru 3 deposit of the Ranger Uranium Project
in Australia's Northern Territory. In other cases, objects of cultural signii cance have been
salvaged and relocated, with the approval and oversight of their traditional custodians.

Mining can also be benefi cial for
the existing environment, a fact
that is unfortunately too often
ignored by the media and many
NGOs.