While no strangers to extreme weather, the growing risks from climate change are forcing the mining industry to take a hard look at their methods, and how to prepare for the worst. Many of the most prudent actions to minimize risk are, however, also more costly, meaning that while some have taken them on, not everyone has followed suit.We deliver the local news you need in these turbulent times on weekdays at 3 p.m.
Some of those methods include removing much of the water from the waste so it can be piled dry to make it more stable. Companies are also more often pushing waste back into mine shafts and open pits to reduce the risks, he said.Moving millions of tonnes of rock back into a hole or adding a water removal step for tailings, however, doesn’t come cheap, so it becomes in part a question of how much value a company sees in it, said Bussiere.
For example, in Nunavut, Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd. has gone with dry tailings at its Meliadine mine, in part to improve resilience to future climate change, while it’s already had to expand water storage at its northern mines because of more frequent extreme rainfall. It’s also still working through the best way to cover a satellite deposit of its Meadowbank mine to make sure the waste rock doesn’t thaw and generate acid.
The industry is doing more on adaptation as the data gets better, and as disclosure requirements increase, said Ali. “Those were big investments at the time, but it was also looking ahead and seeing that’s where we needed to go,” said Caroline Cox, who oversees sustainability at BHP as chief legal, governance and external affairs officer.