Minerals, Wealth and Progress - Mining and the Environment: From Ore to Metal - page 43

and all relevant managerial systems in addition to the technology and its ancillaries. Today
much emphasis is placed on controlling environmental impacts by attacking the problem
at the source, termed 'Best Management Practices - BMP' instead of using more costly
downstream control technologies (e.g. USEPA 2000). There are two categories of BMP: (1)
planning and design with efforts directed at future mining activities, and (2) maintenance
and operational practices to minimize impacts from existing mining operations.
It is also important to note that operation criteria based on BAT or BATNEEC become
meaningless in time if there is no continuous research in improving existing technolo-
gies and practices. World Bank (2006) observed that relatively low levels of research and
development expenditures are a long-standing feature of the mining sector, and that there
appears to be no role for significant government intervention in these respects. However,
World Bank (2006) also states that there may be areas where governments can selec-
tively work with industry and academia to ensure that appropriate research is conducted
in respect of long term issues of common interest. These could include the implications
of global warming and carbon emission reduction objectives for the mining and metals
processing industry (e.g. carbonless steel), and longer-term environmental management
issues such as water use in mining and long-term mine closure planning.
The term 'best practice' has been widely used in the mining industry, particularly since
publication in the 1990s by Environment Australia, of a series of mainly excellent booklets
which are listed in the Bibliography. Undoubtedly, striving to achieve best practice is a worthy
ideal. However, the authors of this topic have avoided the term, for the following reasons:
● The goal of 'continuous improvement' to which many mining companies subscribe,
means that best practice this year should not be so in the future;
● Practices that are highly effective in a particular situation may be ineffective or even
deleterious in another. One of very many examples that could be cited is the technique
of 'moon-scaping' in mine land rehabilitation (see Chapter Twenty One).
Notwithstanding the views referred to above from the World Bank (2006), considerable
advances and improvements have been made in environmental technology related to mining
over the past three decades. Much of the research and many of the advances in environmen-
tal technology have been made in Australia, Canada and the USA where strong, profitable
mining industries have existed within environmentally conscious societies, and have conse-
quently been subject to relatively strict regulatory control and oversight. Another feature of
the mining industry in these countries has been a willingness to cooperate in research and to
rapidly disseminate the results. The global supply situation is now changing, with more and
more mineral production sourced from developing countries, many of which have little or
no history of mining. In most of these countries, effective environmental practices have not
been developed or, if developed, have not been widely disseminated. The practices that are
appropriate for operations in the established mining countries may be inappropriate in many
developing countries where the terrain, climate and social circumstances may be quite
different. Indeed, it is particularly important to recognize that, even in the same region, no
two projects are identical; subtle differences in the nature of the ore, the treatment process, or
characteristics of the local environment, can and do have important ramifications for environ-
mental impacts, requiring different approaches or selection of different technologies to pro-
vide the most effective means of environmental management. If a term is needed to describe
the ideal, then 'effective practice' or 'appropriate practice' would be preferred to best practice.

Practices that are highly effective
in a particular situation may be
ineffective or even deleterious in
another.

No two projects are identical;
subtle differences in the nature of
the ore, the treatment process,
or characteristics of the local
environment, can and do have
important ramifications for
environmental impacts.

Mining and Sustainability

Sustainable development has been proposed as a holistic approach for dealing with
these complexities. The term sustainable development was popularized by the World