SUMEX Repository

Social and Human Rights Impact and Risk Analysis (SHIRA)

Social and Human Rights Impact and Risk Analysis (SHIRA) is a tool developed for the identification, prioritisation, and mitigation of adverse social and human rights impacts and risks. It is to be implemented in all AngloAmerican projects across the mine life cycle to prevent and assess the negative impacts on local communities and other external stakeholders.

Knowledge base

BIOMOre Stress Tests

Mines or waste management facilities can be confronted with extreme conditions and events. What precautions can be taken to be adequately prepared for such events?

Knowledge base

South Australia's and the US's in situ leaching legislation

As in situ leaching (ISL) does not yet exist in Europe, South Australia's and the US's legislation provides good practices that could be introduced to Europe.

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Building resilience in the mining and metals industry

This practice addresses the construction of resilience in the mining and metals industry. A changing climate will have a wide range of implications for the mining and metals sector. Extreme weather events and long-term changes in climate patterns will impact fixed assets and disrupt supply chains. Members of the ICMM are concerned with water management, facilities with long lifespans for which design criteria may include climate-related assumptions, as well as how climate change may impact closures and closure processes

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Financial guarantees for proper closure of In Situ Leaching operations

The lack of financial guarantees for proper closure in the event of bankruptcy.

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Planning the participatory process

The first step of an effective stakeholder involvement is to plan the purpose and the process of participation. The plan covers the roles and activities of people included in the process.

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Who are important stakeholders and how to involve them

The practice helps policy planners and representatives of industry first, to identify stakeholders and second, it provides useful tools for grouping the stakeholders according to their roles.

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Boliden's Safety Culture

Boliden’s safety culture builds around mutual trust and zero tolerance for risky behaviour among all employees. The company emphasizes preventive safety measures to promote risk awareness and to ensure safe performance in all situations.

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Worker health initiatives: The Kokkola approach

The practice presents an example of how a company can promote workers’ health through various health and well-being initiatives.

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Baseline mapping of existing initiatives on raw materials

The need for a structured approach to identify and group existing initiatives, data availability and relevant stakeholders

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Recycling of electronic material at Boliden

This practice addresses the recycling of metals from electronic materials at Bolidens Rönnskär smelter in northern Sweden. Nowadays, the smelter recycles up to 120.000 tones of various waste materials.

Knowledge base

Adapting to a Changing Climate: Building Resilience in the Mining and Metals Industry

This guideline outlines a step-by-step method for constructing climate resilience, suggests ways that businesses may include climate concerns into current risk management procedures, and offers an overview of how a changing climate can affect the mining and metals sector.

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Company-Community Relations: Training Materials

Based on ICMMs core ideas from their portfolio of recommendations, they have created a number of training resources to help businesses build strong, enduring partnerships with their communities.

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Why human rights matter

Rio Tinto has modified its human rights policy to reflect current business and human rights developments, including the 2011 UN Guiding Principles for Business and Human Rights adoption and the amendment of the OECD Guidelines on Multinational Enterprises. Their policy states that they embrace the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and uphold those rights when doing the Group's business across the globe.

Practice base

Lisheen closure and rehabilitation

After 17 years of operation, mining at Vedanta's Lisheen Mine in Tipperary, Ireland, came to a stop at the end of 2015. As far as the company is concerned, the narrative did not finish while mining at Lisheen. Vedanta has always anticipated closing the Lisheen site and successfully rehabilitating it. A best practice mine closure plan was put into place to completely handle all regulatory authority permit requirements, with a focus on the actual closure of the mine and aftercare of the site. The closure work at Lisheen is regarded as one of the best examples of ecologically responsible mine closure and rehabilitation anywhere in the world.

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Closure, Restoration & Aftercare Management Plan

In order to make the Mine closure process easier, the Closure, Restoration and Aftercare Management Plan, or CRAMP, was created. Throughout the procedure (active and passive closure, and aftercare) this strategy ran continually. Every year, all of the CRAMP paperwork were reviewed and updated as necessary.

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Sustainability Integrated Management System (SIMS)

All Eldorado sites must meet the minimum performance-based standards set forth by the Sustainability Integrated Management System (SIMS) of Eldorado in the areas of occupational health and safety, environmental performance, social performance, security, and general management of sustainability topics.

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Sustainability Materiality Approach

According to the definition given by the GRI Standards, a "material subject" is one that represents the Company's major economic, environmental, and social consequences or one that has the potential to materially affect the opinions and choices of all stakeholders. Eldorado's comprehension of material concerns is shaped by the externally oriented notion of materiality provided by the GRI Standards. To choose the subjects that will be covered in their yearly sustainability report, they perform materiality evaluations on a rolling three-year basis.

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Eldorado Gold's Performance Targets

Eldorado works to incorporate sustainability into its operations and sets ambitious targets for sustainability performance, management, and governance each year.

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Environmental Risk Prevention

An essential component of the Proyecto Riotinto's functioning is the mitigation of environmental concerns. Because of this, the Company has developed a special methodology that outlines how to avoid and handle a variety of circumstances that might arise inadvertently throughout the project and have a substantial environmental impact.

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Health monitoring agreement to prevent occupational diseases

Atalaya has entered into a health monitoring agreement with an external preventive service consisting of doctors specializing in occupational medicine, and employees undergo annual medical examinations.

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Management of historical environmental liabilities

The Proyecto Riotinto is a historical project, which is one of its key features. Due to its long history of usage, the mine has inherited environmental liabilities including the so-called diffuse waters.

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Hire of locals

A mine should economically benefit the local area in which it is situated, and in particular, hire locals as much as possible.

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Best Practices on Social Awareness Communication

The deliverable analyses best practices for social awareness communication. It does so by first introducing six case studies illustrating six different scenarios. These case studies chosen for the deliverable are Erzberg Mine (Austria), Lujar mine (Spain), El Ajibe quarry (Spain), Bor (Serbia), Tytyri (Finland), Cerrejón mine (Colombia) and Tierras Raras Mulas (Spain). It then proceeds to give recommendations on how companies can improve their social awareness communication.

Knowledge base

Mineral-sorting algorithm test report - existing sensors

X-MINE Task 3.2 develops an algorithm for mineral sorting based on data fusion map and configurable user parameters. The first version is based on conventional image processing tools such as thresholding, background removal, edge detection and labelling, and it will be tested with the reference samples collected from the participating mines. Samples will be analysed and labelled by experts, and the algorithm improved based on results if needed. The second phase introduces a more developed version of the algorithm, which will be based on more sophisticated methods, such as unsupervised or supervised pattern recognition, 3D model fitting and data fusion methods (the second version of the algorithm will be reported in D3.3 Mineral-sorting algorithm test report - X-MINE sensors). This deliverable concentrates on the first version of the algorithm.

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Using biochar to cover mining waste

The practice examines how biochar can be used to cover mining waste in projects in northern mining industry. By examining how the use of biochar affects the water economy, as well as carbon and nutrition balance of the multi-level coverage and the growth layer, the best ways to improve bio cover’s durability and stability are defined.

Practice base

RioTinto's Approach to Management of Tailings and Water Storage Facilities

The management of tailings and water storage facilities is a complex and challenging issue for Rio Tinto, with key challenges including environmental impacts, regulatory requirements, water management, sustainability, and cost.

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Technologies for the safe and efficient operation of water reservoirs

This practice aims to address problems which a lot of countries deal with: unsafe dams due to seismic activities. This project examines underlying processes and relevant safety parameters of water reservoirs to develop transferable monitoring concepts for dams in technologically active regions.

Practice base

Rio Tinto's Approach to Management of Slope Geotechnical Hazards

The challenge of Rio Tinto's management of slope geotechnical hazards is to minimize the risk of slope instability, which can lead to failure of a tailings dam or other geotechnical structures. This is a significant challenge because many of Rio Tinto's mining operations are located in remote and challenging environments, where geotechnical conditions can be complex and unpredictable.

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The Old Mine Science and Art Centre (Stara Kopalnia Centrum Nauki i Sztuki)

After the closure of mining plants in 1990s, mining heritage and with it historic architecture and machinery were in danger of being forgotten. As a revitalisation process, one of the former coal mines went through renovation process where the mining site was changed into a multi-functional modern science and art centre.

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Mining heritage as a new purpose of Czech - Polish cross-border tourism

General public, especially younger generations, have negative image of mining. Sharing knowledge about mining, its history and importance for the economy could improve this image and affect the level of acceptance positively.

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The Man Engine to raise awareness

The Man Engine, a large mechanical puppet, was developed to raise awareness and to attract people to learn about the Cornish mining culture and history.

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Hydropower in the Peruvian raw materials industry

This practice addresses the growing energy needs in the extraction and processing of raw materials in Peru and uses concepts and technologies for harnessing and integrating hydroelectric hydropower potentials in open pit mines. Hydropower has been of importance in Peru as an inexpensive and reliable source of energy but its share of national electricity generation has fallen due to subsidies for natural gas production. The use of hydropower in the mining industry could increase in the share.

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Logical Framework Approach for the integration of mineral resources into land use planning

To provide a systematic approach for integrating mineral resources into Land Use Planning.

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Network activities between, and among, stakeholders (Finland's Sustainable Extractive Industry Action Plan)

There was a need in Finland for a more broadly based approach and a strengthened framework for implementing agreed actions in the Minerals Strategy. The National Action Plan meets both these needs, while at the same time promoting coherence and consistency across the various initiatives being undertaken as a result of the Action Plan, which seeks to improve policy and the legislative framework.

Knowledge base

Cornwall Mining Alliance to enhance networking

Cornwall Mining Alliance was developed to facilitate contact and networking opportunities for export, innovation and business expansion in the field of extractives. Prior to this initiative there was no obvious point of contact for businesses in extractives field to contact for networking purposes.

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Involving stakeholders in implementing Finland's Sustainable Extractive Industry Action Plan measures

There was a need in Finland for a more broadly based approach and a strengthened framework for implementing agreed actions in the Minerals Strategy. The National Action Plan meets both these needs, while at the same time promoting coherence and consistency across the various initiatives being undertaken as a result of the Action Plan, which seeks to improve policy and the legislative framework.

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Achieving common objectives and a holistic approach for action in the stakeholder dialogue (Austrian's Raw Material Alliance)

Multi-dimensional challenges of primary minerals supply (e.g. social licence to operate, mining impacts on ecosystems, long-term business investment decisions) directly or indirectly impact or involve a large and diverse set of stakeholders. With the multifaceted interests reflected by a diverse set of stakeholders involved in the platform, a precise and common definition of objectives was both a challenge, as well as a pre-condition for its success within each topical area discussion.

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Survey results on policy coherence

Clarifying across Europe whether policy makers and permitting authorities believe that minerals policy and legislation complement one another or if changes need to be made.

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Aerial Mapping – Radioactive Contamination in Central Asia

This practice addresses the problems with uncontrolled radioactive contamination at former uranium sites due to natural hazards such as floodings or landslides. This practice is important as the contaminated water can cause severe problems for the surrounding regions.

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Multifactor model for investments in the raw material sector

This practice addresses the negative investment trends towards the mining industry. The InvestRM project will create a decision-making tool for raw materials companies and investors, mining institutes, technical universities, geological surveys, non-governmental association, the Bosnia and Herzegovina government and state institutions in order to facilitate investment in the raw material sector. The project is focused on Bosnia and Herzegovina due to its critical raw materials potential but will be fully transferable to other East and Southeast European (ESEE) countries.

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Biotechnological extraction of secondary minerals from mine water

Capacity requirements

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Geometallurgical programmes

Need for improved resource efficiency / Consideration of ore variability Need for improved communication between the different departments in a mining company (breaking silos)

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Linked mining and land use policy (Sweden)

The case is about a small-scale future underground mining operation that has successfully achieved a concession and is in the final application phase for an environmental permit.

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Local Stakeholder interaction

The case is about a small-scale future underground mining operation that has successfully achieved a concession and is in the final application phase for an environmental permit. Among the local population mining has since a long time often been perceived as positive bringing jobs and representing progress for parts of society. The case describes how land use issues and conflicts are resolved and determined where exploration and mining is an integrated part of the land use system. Further, it is highlighted the importance of an early company involvement with affected stakeholders. The involvement of affected stakeholders at an early stage has defused the potential conflicts.

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International consortium to recover CRMs from stockpiles/tailings targeting RI

This project aims to fill the existing technical gaps in mining stockpiles/tailings by introducing innovative techniques.

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Test mining (Sweden)

The case is about a small-scale future underground mining operation that has successfully achieved a concession and is in the final application phase for an environmental permit. Among the local population mining has since a long time often been perceived as positive bringing jobs and representing progress for parts of society. The case describes how land use issues and conflicts are resolved and determined where exploration and mining is an integrated part of the land use system. Further, it is highlighted the importance of an early company involvement with affected stakeholders. The involvement of affected stakeholders at an early stage has defused the potential conflicts.

Knowledge base

Innovative targeting & processing of W-Sn-Ta-Li ores: towards EU’s self-supply

One of the wealthiest tungsten-tin-(tantalum-lithium) mineral belts in the world is located in western and central-eastern Europe, where different types of mineralization are related to certain granitic rocks. These ore deposits were intensely mined till the 1980s when the global crash of metal prices triggered the closure of most of the tin mines. More recently, market and political changes in the 2010s initiated the gradual reactivation of this mining sector and currently, there are a few producing mines and tens of advanced exploration projects. However, all of these projects are brownfields and occur in or near already existing mine sites. This is partially caused by several issues that are specific for this type of mineralization. The deposits are usually low tonnage and mostly worked by SME’s, they form irregular masses or narrow veins with difficult grade control, resource evaluation, and ore processing. Furthermore, the restricted geographic location, away from the major ore belts, and the price crisis have kept these deposits away from the recent advances of conceptual exploration. All of these problems have hampered greenfields exploration and advances in ore concentration and resource estimation.

Knowledge base

Dubrovnik International ESEE Mining School 2 (DIM ESEE-2)

Dubrovnik International ESEE Mining School (DIM ESEE) is an educational project funded by EIT Raw Materials. It responds to the demand for educational courses for raw materials professionals in Eastern and South-Eastern Europe. Especially, course material covering the newest development trends, tools, methodologies and innovations in extractives industry are seen as insufficient and therefore knowledge on these matters is needed. DIM-ESEE-2 (2021-2024) is continuation for the previous DIM ESEE school (2016-2020)

Knowledge base

Field Augmented Reality in Mineral Exploration and Mining

This practice addresses the development of an augmented reality (AR) solution which visualizes 3D geological data to eventually improve exploration success rates, reduce cost and lead times. Furthermore, the goal of this project is to improve communication between stakeholders. Using these innovative technologies in the exploration sector will provide high data precision and efficiency.

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Knowledge repository