The Sustainability of Mining in Australia : Key Production Trends and Their Environmental Implications for the Future RESEARCH REPORT Dr Gavin M. Mudd First Released –October 2007 Revised – April 2009 Department of Civil Engineering, Monash University and Mineral Policy Institute Copyright © 2007-2009 This report should be cited as : Mudd, G M, 2009, The Sustainability of Mining in Australia : Key Production Trends and Their Environmental Implications for the Future. Research Report No RR5, Department of Civil Engineering, Monash University and Mineral Policy Institute, Revised - April 2009. ISBN: 978-0-9803199-4-1 Principal Keywords : sustainable mining, Australia, economic mineral resources, waste rock, ore grades Secondary Keywords : black coal, brown coal, uranium, bauxite, iron ore, manganese, mineral sands, copper, gold, lead, zinc, silver, nickel, diamonds, open cut mining, underground mining, mine rehabilitation This publication may be distributed freely in its entirity and in its original form without the consent of the copyright owner, providing it is not altered in any way. Use of material contained in this publication in any other published works must be appropriately referenced, and, if necessary, permission sought from the author. Published by: Department of Civil Engineering Monash University VIC, 3800 AUSTRALIA First Released - October 2007 Revised & Updated with 2007 data – April 2009 http://civil.eng.monash.edu.au/publications/ ii Executive Summary The sustainability of mining is not a simple concept – at first glance it would appear to be an obvious oxymoron, a paradox. Yet in reality, most mineral production is sometimes two or three orders of magnitude higher than a century ago, commonly from mines which dwarf their previous generation. There are clearly numerous aspects and issues involved in assessing the sustainability of mining, and the emphasis will largely vary according to whether one is adopting a mining industry, government or independent civic perspective. In the past few decades the mining industry in Australia has moved to improve its environmental management, and in the past decade has been prominently involved in the global debate about sustainability and the need to incorporate sustainable development into mine operations as well as corporate policy. There remains, however, no previous study which has examined long-term trends in mining which are critical in understanding sustainability and mining. The principal issues include increasing production, declining ore grades (or quality), increased open cut mining and associated waste rock or overburden and remaining economic resources. Combined, these aspects are critical in quantifying the scale or footprint of mining, and also underpins the sustainability of mining. This report presents the first ever such study which has compiled master data sets on the above issues for almost all sectors of the Australian mining industry, namely black and brown coal, uranium, iron ore, bauxite, manganese, mineral sands, copper, gold, lead-zinc-silver, nickel and diamonds (tin and tungsten being excluded). The report contains data essentially from the start of each sector studied, sometimes back as far as 1829. The unique study illustrates a number of key aspects concerning mining and sustainability : • Production : gradually or exponentially increasing, which is likely to continue for some time; • Ore Grades : gradually declining, unlikely to ever increase in the future with some metals likely to decrease by about half in the near future (eg. gold); • Open Cut Mining : now widespread, likely to be sustained in the future though the long-term is hard to predict as new mineral deposits are likely to be deeper; • Waste Rock / Overburden : increasing rapidly, likely to be sustained in the future and closely linked to open cut mining (especially for coal and base metals); • Economic Resources : commonly increasing but some remain stable or gradually declining, future linked closely to exploration, technology and economics; From a sustainability perspective, these trends point to the scale of mines and the associated footprint gradually increasing in the future. This is due to the increased solid wastes (tailings and waste rock) per unit mineral / metal production caused by declining ore grades and increased waste rock and open cut mining. In terms of economic resources, this study demonstrates that for most minerals resources have actually increased over time despite increasing production (e.g copper, gold, nickel, mineral sands), but for some minerals rapidly increasing production is putting pressure on known economic resources (eg. iron ore). All of these combined trends have important social, environmental and economic implications for mining. They give hope to some but cause for concern for others. Ultimately, the sustainability of the mining industry continues to hang in the balance. iii Table of Contents 1. Introduction : Defining Sustainable Mining 2. Approach & Methodology 3. Defining Sustainable Mining 3.1 The Mining Cycle 3.2 Concepts of Sustainable Mining 3.2.1 Key Definitions, Concepts and Themes 3.2.2 Synthesis of Major Issues 4. Results : Total Mineral Production 5. Results : Energy Commodities 5.1 Black Coal 5.1.1 Brief History 5.1.2 Major Provinces 5.1.3 Production 5.1.4 Resources 5.2 Brown Coal 5.2.1 Brief History 5.2.2 Major Provinces 5.2.3 Production 5.2.4 Resources 5.3 Uranium 5.3.1 Brief History 5.3.2 Major Provinces 5.3.3 Production 5.3.4 Resources 5.4 Energy Resources : Key Trends & Issues 6. Results : Bulk Commodities 6.1 Iron Ore 6.1.1 Brief History 6.1.2 Major Provinces 6.1.3 Production 6.1.4 Resources 6.2 Bauxite-Alumina-Aluminium 6.2.1 Brief History 6.2.2 Major Provinces 6.2.3 Production 6.2.4 Resources 6.3 Manganese 6.3.1 Brief History 6.3.2 Major Provinces 6.3.3 Production 6.3.4 Resources 6.4 Mineral Sands 6.4.1 Brief History 6.4.2 Major Provinces 6.4.3 Production 6.4.4 Resources iv 7. Results : Base-Precious Metals and Diamonds 7.1 Copper 7.1.1 Brief History 7.1.2 Major Provinces 7.1.3 Production 7.1.4 Resources 7.2 Gold 7.2.1 Brief History 7.2.2 Major Provinces 7.2.3 Production 7.2.4 Resources 7.3 Lead-Zinc-Silver 7.3.1 Brief History 7.3.2 Major Provinces 7.3.3 Production 7.3.4 Resources 7.4 Nickel 7.4.1 Brief History 7.4.2 Major Provinces 7.4.3 Production 7.4.4 Resources 7.5 Diamonds 7.5.1 Brief History 7.5.2 Major Provinces 7.5.3 Production 7.5.4 Resources 8. Analysis : Key Trends Affecting Long-Term Sustainability 8.1 Ore Grades 8.2 Waste Rock / Overburden 8.3 Economic Resources 8.4 Rehabilitation 8.5 Environmental and Sustainability Reporting 9. Conclusions and Recommendations : Sustainability and the Australian Mining Industry APPENDIX A : Total Mineral Production 10. Black Coal 11. Brown Coal 12. Uranium 13. Iron Ore 14. Bauxite-Alumina-Aluminium 15. Manganese 16. Mineral Sands 17. Copper 18. Gold 19. Lead-Zinc-Silver 20. Nickel APPENDIX B : 21. Average Ore Grade and Cumulative Waste Rock Over Time 22. Mine Production Tables 23. References v Common Acronyms & Abbreviations NSW State of New South Wales NT State of Northern Territory QLD State of Queensland SA State of South Australia TAS State of Tasmania VIC State of Victoria WA State of Western Australia ABARE Australian Bureau of Agricultural & Resource Economics (Commonwealth Agency) AGSO Australian Geological Survey Organisation (Commonwealth Agency, replaced BMR) AusIMM Australasian Institute of Mining & Metallurgy AWAC Alcoa World Alumina & Chemicals, Alcoa Ltd (60%) and Alumina Ltd (40%) Joint Venture BHP Broken Hill Proprietary Company Ltd BHPB BHP Billiton Ltd (formerly BHP) BHS Broken Hill South Silver Mining Company Ltd BMR Bureau of Geology, Geophysics & Mineral Resources (Commonwealth Agency) CIP Carbon-in-Pulp (cyanide milling technology for gold) CRA Conzinc Riotinto Australia Ltd (now Rio Tinto Ltd) DM’s State Department of Mines (eg. Annual Reports, Bulletins, Mineral Resource studies, etc) EZ Electrolytic Zinc Company of Australasia Ltd GA Geoscience Australia (Commonwealth Agency, replaced AGSO) GEMCO Groote Eylandt Mining Company Pty Ltd (former BHP subsidiary) JV Joint Venture MIM Mt Isa Mines Ltd (now part of Xstrata Ltd) MRT Mineral Resources Tasmania NBH North Broken Hill Ltd (now part of Rio Tinto Ltd) NSWCIP New South Wales Coal Industry Profile NSWDM New South Wales Department of Mines NSWDMR New South Wales Department of Mineral Resources NSWMIR New South Wales Mineral Industry Review PIRSA Primary Industries & Resources South Australia QDM Queensland Department of Mines SADM South Australian Department of Mines (now PIRSA) SECV State of Electricity Commission of Victoria TDM Tasmanian Department of Mines (now MRT) VDM Victorian Department of Mines (now VDPI) WADM Western Australian Department of Mines (now WADoIR) WADMPR Western Australian Department of Minerals & Petroleum Resources (now WADoIR) WADoIR Western Australian Department of Industry & Resources WR Waste Rock ZC Zinc Corporation Common Element & Mineral Symbols Ag Silver Co Cobalt Mn Manganese U Uranium Al Aluminium Cu Copper Sb Antimony W Wolfram Au Gold Fe Iron Sn Tin Zn Zinc As Arsenic Pb Lead Ti Titanium Zr Zirconium vi Project and Associated Publications to Date Most papers below are available from the personal staff website of the author : http://civil.eng.monash.edu.au/about/staff/muddpersonal/ If they are not (for copyright reasons), please email and request them. Peer-Reviewed Journal Papers : Mudd, G M, 2008, Sustainability Reporting and Water Resources: a Preliminary Assessment of Embodied Water and Sustainable Mining. Mine Water & the Environment, 27 (3), pp 136-144. Mudd, G M & Diesendorf, M, 2008, Sustainability of Uranium Mining : Towards Quantifying Resources and Eco-Efficiency. Environmental Science & Technology, 42 (7), pp 2624-2630. Mudd, G M, 2007, Global Trends in Gold Mining : Towards Quantifying Environmental and Resource Sustainability ? Resources Policy, 32 (1-2), pp 42-56.