The role of the mineral reserve estimator in promoting sustainable development in the mining industry

During the development of national and international codes for reporting mineral reserves, more attention has tended to be paid to the geological aspects of resource estimation than to the requirements for conversion of mineral resources into mineral reserves. Implicit in this conversion, as expressed in all the major reporting codes, is consideration of mining, metallurgical, economic, marketing, legal, environmental, social and governmental factors, commonly described as the `modifying factors'. The relevance of the modifying factors is becoming vastly greater as the mining industry begins to take active steps to demonstrate that it can operate in a sustainable manner. Factors such as environmental and social, which tended in the past to be seen as potential impediments to mining and considered largely an economic burden, are now key components of developing a mineral deposit from initial exploration through development, operation, closure and beyond. The impact on communities and society in general starts from day one of exploration and continues well beyond the closure of a mine. Positive benefits such as an assured supply of commodities, industrial prosperity, employment and renewed infrastructure need to be weighed against short-term effects on social life and land use and the longer term needs for remediation, wildlife protection and conservation of water supplies. Modern reserve estimators need to consider the full ramifications of mining, processing and selling their commodities, and even re-cycling end-products, not just on the mining company but on all stakeholders in the project. There have been considerable recent moves towards developing sustainable development policies for the mining industry and these are briefly discussed. However, these are largely top-down processes, with general aims and aspirations. If sustainable development is truly to work in the mining industry, impetus must also come from the bottom up. It is in this context that the reserve estimation process, which is a core component of any mining business, needs to be examined for opportunities to contribute to sustainable development. This paper reviews the modifying factors and how these might be used as the basis for decision-making on sustainable development opportunities. (C) 2005 Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining and Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy.