catchments, mines and communities – an integrated catchment management imperative for mining roger...
TRANSCRIPT
Catchments, Mines and Communities – an integrated
catchment management imperative for mining
Roger HigginsInternational River Foundation
Australia
Introduction Miners and River Basin Managers Water Stewardship Systems Engineering Cumulative Impact Assessment Ecosystems Services Integrated River Basin Management
Miners and River Basin Managers
Mines and River Basins Mining is an intensive, low volume land use A multi-generational, temporary land use Brings changes to communities and to society An intensive, low volume water use A high value-add water use Sub-catchment, catchment and regional scales A diversity of stakeholders; a diversity of
perceptions
Agenda Miners and River Basin Managers Water Stewardship Systems Engineering Cumulative Impact Assessment Ecosystems Services Integrated River Basin Management
Water Stewardship ….…. is a sub-set of a broader ethic that embodies the responsible planning and management of resources through conservation and sustainable practices.
Product Stewardship ….…. focuses on the product such as copper or zinc metal
the lifecycle of the product from ore in the ground to final use. by-products and impurities. intermediate processing, disposal and recycling. arrangements to determine and share responsibility between
miners, metal processors and fabricators and users.
Metal Recycling
…. proportions higher when metal prices are high and clearly offset the costs of collection and retreatment.
Copper ~ 30% Zinc ~ 20%
Lead ~ 50% Steel ~ 50%
Water recycling in mining An economic and an environmental imperative. Water is recovered principally from tailings
thickeners and tailings storage facilities. Water is consumed (ie: not recovered) principally
from evaporation from tailings storage facilities and from interstitial water trapped in deposited tailings.
70-80% of the water volume required to operate a metal-mine concentrator is recovered and re-used in the process.
Tailings management = water management
Water releases from mine sites Weather events
Storms, monsoons, tropical cyclones Open pit and underground de-watering
Preferred sources of process water “Keeping clean water clean”
Diversions, liners, cappings Meeting release standards
storages, treatment, polishing ponds
Industry challenges Construction spoil Geotechnical design Overburden dump erosion Riverine tailings disposal Acid mine drainage Reagent spills
Water Stewardship Framework effective and efficient water
resource management transparency and accountability
in water use a catchment-based approach to
managing water risk proactive engagement with
stakeholders
Agenda Miners and River Basin Managers Water Stewardship Systems Engineering Cumulative Impact Assessment Ecosystems Services Integrated River Basin Management
Systems Engineering Approaches Quantitative operational simulations
and probability assessments Data driven, linear and non-linear
models Model selection, parameter estimation
and model calibration
Engineering Systems / Catchment Systems The domains of systems engineering
mimic the domains of catchment management
Baseline data, integrated teams, developments, project lifecycles, catchment processes, process models
Model selection, parameter estimation and model calibration
Source: Systems Engineering Fundamentals, 2001
Engineering Systems / Catchment Systems The domains of systems engineering
mimic the domains of catchment management
Baseline data, integrated teams, developments, project lifecycles, catchment processes, process models
Model selection, parameter estimation and model calibration
Catchment Management
Systems Engineering - a few examples Mine discharge risk weather events, water usage and storage buffers Regulatory requirements and internal KPIs frequency and duration of overflows,
shortfalls, quality non-compliances Knowledge transfer from studied to
unstudied river reaches (R Somme) case-based reasoning for model selection
and parameter estimates
Source: Ani, 2009
Agenda Miners and River Basin Managers Water Stewardship Systems Engineering Cumulative Impact Assessment Ecosystems Services Integrated River Basin Management
Cumulative Impacts – a wicked problem Difficult enough for a collection of existing operations. Truly wicked question when considering both existing and
potential operations, and other land and water users. Simply first-come-first-served? Might a future operation be a better project, economically,
environmentally and socially, than an existing one? Can we design mechanisms which allow for best-outcomes
from old practices to new practices?
Cumulative Impact Management Understand and assess the accumulation
and interaction of impacts Collective community reports Cross-company networks, forums and
working groups Cross-company community engagement Cross-company coordination of community
and environmental investmentsSource: Franks, Brereton and Moran (2009)
Cumulative Impacts – a few examples Peace River Florida
regulatory effectiveness Isaac River Queensland
geomorphic river channel changes
Hunter River New South Wales salinity trading
Source: Dept of Environment and Conservation NSW, 2006
Agenda Miners and River Basin Managers Water Stewardship Systems Engineering Cumulative Impact Assessment Ecosystems Services Integrated River Basin Management
Ecosystem ServicesBalance between consumptive and environmental uses Provisioning services: food, freshwater, wood, fibre. Regulating services: flood mitigation, disease
control, water purification. Cultural services: aesthetic, spiritual, educational,
recreational. Supporting services: nutrient cycling, soil formation.
Sources: Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, 2005; Julia Martin-Ortega et al, 2015.
Ecosystem Services – a few examples Peru / NYC
Paying for catchment headwaters protection
Germany Planning post-mining land uses
China Mine output vs loss of ecosystem services
Biodiversity offsets / habitat preservation No net loss; possible net gain
Ecosystems valuation – another wicked problem
Attempts to quantify “intangibles”. Risks leaving some elements in the too-hard basket. Can make implausible assumptions in order to satisfy the
completeness of dollar-value matrices. Can be manipulated to come up with the “right” answer. 35 corporations were identified as considering Ecosystem
Services, and 7 of these were mining companies (2013).
Miscellaneous Illegal Mining Columbia, Peru, Tibet, Guyana, … In-channel mining Dredging, sand and gravel, gold, …. Heritage Snowy R National Park, Goulburn V, …. NGOs and NFPs IRF, Waterkeeper Alliance, SDWF, ….
Agenda Miners and River Basin Managers Water Stewardship Systems Engineering Cumulative Impact Assessment Ecosystems Services Integrated River Basin Management
Integrated River Basin ManagementWorld Bank Model Focus Integration of economic, social and
environmental issues Trans-boundary planning and management Incorporation of stakeholder and
community views Sectoral (and sub-sectoral) competition
and conflicts
IRBM – Attributes of Best Practice Basin-wide institutional framework Good knowledge of the condition and
behaviour of the natural resources of the basin Holistic view informing policies, strategies,
decisions and projects Community and stakeholder participation System to measure success – ie: sustainable
basin management
An integrated catchment management imperative for mining
We have the need Mine boundaries vs watersheds We have the framework ICMM, National mining councils We have the tools Cumulative impact assessments;
systems engineering; ecosystems services, etc
An integrated catchment management imperative for mining
Thank you