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