Sustainable development: can the mining industry afford it?

Adopting the values of sustainable development implies an increase in the mining industry's environmental and social costs. For an industry already offering poor returns on capital this is potentially a problem. An examination of the historical record, however, reveals that past increases in environmental and social costs have been more than offset by developments in industry productivity. The emergence of information and communication technologies seems likely to extend this trend into the future. The particular challenges being faced by mining in the US appear to be less to do with rising environmental costs than with competition from countries which have recently opened up to foreign mining investment and to a strong dollar. It seems likely that industry's adoption of more sustainable practices will require, and could even promote, improved returns to capital in mining. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.