Mining and the Environment: From Ore to Metal

The history of mining is replete with controversy, much of it relating to environmental damage and consequent community outrage. Over recent decades there has been increasing pressure to improve the environmental and social performance of mining operations, particularly in developing countries. The industry has responded by embracing the ideals of corporate social responsibility. This book identifies and discusses the wide range of social and environmental issues pertaining to mining, with particular reference to mining in developing countries from where many of the project examples and case studies have been selected. Following an introductory overview of the issues of concern, the book illustrates how environmental impact assessment as defined in "The Equator Principles", integrates with the mining lifecycle, and how environmental assessment aims to eliminate the negative and to accentuate the positive mining impacts. The text illustrates the wide range of environmental and social concerns and opportunities. Practical approaches are provided to manage issues ranging from land acquisition and resettlement or indigenous peoples issues, through the technical aspects of acid rock drainage and mine waste management, to a thorough analysis of ways and means of sharing mining benefits with host communities so that these benefits are not transitory, allowing mining to become a sustainable economic activity. The wide coverage of issues raised illustrated by many real-life case studies, makes this practice-oriented book a reference and key reading for operators in the field, as well as for environmental consultants, regulators, and students. This book will also be of interest to environmental personnel in the oil & gas industry as much of the subject matter applies to the extractive industries as a whole.

Table of Contents:
1. Minerals, wealth and progress; 2. Environmental impact assessment; 3. Involving the public; 4 The anatomy of a mine; 5. Mining methods vary widely; 6. Converting minerals to metals; 7. Our environment; 8. The baseline; 9. Indentifying and evaluating impacts; 10. Emphasizing environmental management and monitoring; 11. Metals, their biological functions and harmful impacts; 12. Was the environmental assessment adequate?; 13. The range of environmental concerns; 14. Land acquisition and resettlement; 15. Community development; 16. Indigenous peoples issues; 17. Acid rock drainage; 18. Tailings disposal concepts and practices; 19. Approaches to waste rock disposal; 20. Erosion; 21. Mine closure; 22. Existing trends

About the Author :
Dr. Karlheinz Spitz is an environmental consultant with more than 20 years professional experience in Canada, Europe, Asia, and Australia. His main interest is the environmental assessment of large resource development projects in developing countries. He worked on many mines in South East Asia, covering a wide range of minerals and a diverse spectrum of environmental and social settings. Dr. Spitz understands mining as a sustainable economic activity; his focus is on the social, economic and environmental performance of mining. Dr. Spitz provides high level advice to Equator Principles Financial Institutions, and he is regular guest lecturer at various universities. John Trudinger is an environmental consultant with more than 40 years of professional experience. Initially qualified as a geologist, his initial experience was on geotechnical investigations for large infrastructure projects. In the early 1970’s he became involved in the emerging environmental business, and has since contributed as team member or team leader on environmental assessments for more than 100 resource development and infrastructure projects. He has worked throughout Australia, Asia and North America. His particular interest is the management of mine wastes in the mountainous wet tropics.

Review :
"As a textbook, Mining and the Environment is ideal for university-level students who want or need to understand the full range of environmental issues relating to mining." Mining Environmental Management, December 2008 "The wide coverage of issues, particularly the social sustainability issues of mining and the many case studies make this a good reference book for environmental and sustainability consultants, engineers, regulators and operators in the mining industry." "Given the in depth analysis of issues, and te presentation style with a good number of sketches, photos and an easily understandable narration, I can recommend this as an essential text book for mining students and those who want to move to the mine environmental management area." The Environmental Engineer, August 2009 "Spitz and Trudinger excel in providing an accessible, in-depth technical account of the mining process from the perspective of management of environmental and, to a lesser extent, social issues - all in a single volume. [...] Mining and the environment is an epic, expansive and crucial resource for all those engaged in research, practice and advocacy on mining and sustainable development." Daniel Franks, Centre for Social Responsibility in Mining, Sustainable Minerals Institute, The University of Queensland "A mega-book for mega-mines [...] This is the book equivalent of some of the megamines that are featured between its covers. In 22 chapters spanning almost 900 pages the authors cover everything from acid mine drainage to zinc. Fortunately, they have endeavoured to make the book readable and accessible by extensively using graphics and diagrams, including a series of colour plates at the beginning; inserting numerous case studies in text boxes; placing an overview of a metal as a footnote to the title pages of each chapter; and adding marginal notes to highlight key points in the text. […] It is heartening that some of the more challenging and controversial issues of relevance to mining are covered, including those relating to community development, indigenous peoples, land acquisition and resettlement, and corruption and transparency. […] Without doubt, this book is unashamedly intended for people trying to improve the performance of mines, rather than those aiming to prevent them. It is rare for consultants to have the time or inclination to share their practical experience and insights with others, and these authors are to be commended for this. Overall this is an impressive book that should be a welcome addition to the bookshelf of anyone involved with or interested in the extractive industries." Theo Hacking, Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal, Sept. 2009, pp. 253-254