Environmental Management In The Minerals Industry: Theory And Practice

The minerals industry has a high public profile and applications for new planning permissions often attract considerable controversy. Minerals operations generate a wide range of environmental impacts from the extraction, processing, storage and transportation of the mineral and mineral products. Minerals operators have long recognised the importance of environmental issues and the industry associations have published a number of environmental codes of practice which give general guidance for performance in this field. The recent development of the BSI and CEC standards for environmental management systems (EMS) has provided a mechanism for operators to achieve better control of environmental performance and to demonstrate this through certification. The paper reports on a study of 100 UK minerals companies, carried out by questionnaire, to investigate the rate of progress in this industry with development of EMS and preferences in relation to the two standards currently available. The findings of the survey indicate a relatively high level of activity in the EMS field, perhaps suggesting that many companies have been developing systems based on environmental policies and practices already adopted. Despite this, the survey identified a clear need for more detailed guidance on common standards of environmental performance. Few companies have undertaken any assessment of the cost benefits of the EMS work carried out and some possible interpretations of this are discussed.