IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jrpoli/v66y2020ics0301420719307834.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Narrowing the gap between local standards and global best practices in bauxite mining: A case study in Malaysia

Author

Listed:
  • Kuan, Seng How
  • Ghorbani, Yousef
  • Chieng, Sylvia

Abstract

In mining the concept of sustainable development often encounters a paradoxical meaning as numerous mines in the past have closed due to exhausted amounts of ores. Despite the paradox, sustainable development and mining can be made compatible, if mining activities are carried out responsibly and sustainably. This holds true especially in the developing world where illegal and unregulated mining is still being practiced. In Malaysia, annual production of bauxite ore increased drastically from 208,770 tonnes in 2013, to 962,799 tonnes in 2014. The increase stemmed primarily from Indonesia banning exports of bauxite in 2014 to boost its own aluminium smelting industry. This led China to suffer low bauxite supply to meet its national aluminium production demand. Subsequently, mining companies flocked to the hills around Kuantan, Malaysia which host large amounts of low-grade bauxite where the ore is procured and exported to China via seaway. The immediate spike in bauxite production came with environmental and health consequences for residents due to unregulated rampant mining. Consequently, the authorities imposed a temporary moratorium on bauxite mining from Jan 15, 2016 with exceptions for exports of stockpiled bauxite. As a result, production in 2016 dropped to 342,924 tonnes from a peak of 7,164,956 tonnes in 2015. After extending the moratorium nine times, the government announced recently that there would be no further extension and mining could resume in April 2019 with new standard operating procedures (SOP). This work analyses the gap between local standards and global best practices and discovers a disconnect between the two, largely centred around the area of environmental management and performance. The work also elucidates the weaknesses in the current SOP and strategies are proposed to resolve these shortcomings. Recommendations are made to bring Malaysian bauxite mining practices to international standards by stressing on improved sustainability indicators, policy provisions and data transparency.

Suggested Citation

  • Kuan, Seng How & Ghorbani, Yousef & Chieng, Sylvia, 2020. "Narrowing the gap between local standards and global best practices in bauxite mining: A case study in Malaysia," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jrpoli:v:66:y:2020:i:c:s0301420719307834
    DOI: 10.1016/j.resourpol.2020.101636
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301420719307834
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.resourpol.2020.101636?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. World Commission on Environment and Development,, 1987. "Our Common Future," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780192820808.
    2. ., 2019. "Towards city statecraft," Chapters, in: Financialising City Statecraft and Infrastructure, chapter 3, pages 78-102, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    3. Mudd, Gavin M., 2010. "The Environmental sustainability of mining in Australia: key mega-trends and looming constraints," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(2), pages 98-115, June.
    4. Ward, Dalston G., 2019. "Public Attitudes toward Young Immigrant Men," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 113(1), pages 264-269, February.
    5. Erbaugh, James & Bierbaum, Rosina & Castilleja, Guillermo & da Fonseca, Gustavo A.B. & Hansen, Steffen Cole Brandstrup, 2019. "Toward sustainable agriculture in the tropics," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 158-162.
    6. Robert A. J. Matthews, 2019. "Moving Towards the Post p," The American Statistician, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 73(S1), pages 202-212, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Rahmat, Muhammad Abdullah & Ismail, Aznan Fazli & Aziman, Eli Syafiqah & Rodzi, Nursyamimi Diyana & Mohamed, Faizal & Abdul Rahman, Irman, 2022. "The impact of unregulated industrial tin-tailing processing in Malaysia: Past, present and way forward," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    2. Yang, Yu & Chen, Dongjing, 2022. "Issues of corporate social responsibility in the mining industry: The case of China," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    3. Denah Suswati & Nugra Irianta Denashurya, 2023. "Sustainable Rehabilitation of Post-Bauxite Mining Land for Albizia falcata Cultivation Using Specific Location Amelioration Technology," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(14), pages 1-16, July.
    4. Aziman, Eli Syafiqah & Ismail, Aznan Fazli & Rahmat, Muhammad Abdullah, 2023. "Balancing economic growth and environmental protection: A sustainable approach to Malaysia's rare-earth industry," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    5. Mulvaney, Dustin & Richards, Ryan M. & Bazilian, Morgan D. & Hensley, Erin & Clough, Greg & Sridhar, Seetharaman, 2021. "Progress towards a circular economy in materials to decarbonize electricity and mobility," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    6. Kloeckner, Jonas & Alves, João Lucas O. & Silva, Flavio H.T. & Guimaraes, Octavio R.A. & Bassani, Marcel A.A. & Costa, Joao Felipe C.L., 2021. "Application of risk assessment to improve sustainability in bauxite mining," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Hassan, Kamrul & Hoque, Ariful & Wali, Muammer & Gasbarro, Dominic, 2020. "Islamic stocks, conventional stocks, and crude oil: Directional volatility spillover analysis in BRICS," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    2. Miralinaghi, Mohammad & Seilabi, Sania E. & Chen, Sikai & Hsu, Yu-Ting & Labi, Samuel, 2020. "Optimizing the selection and scheduling of multi-class projects using a Stackelberg framework," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 286(2), pages 508-522.
    3. Vintró, Carla & Fortuny, Jordi & Sanmiquel, Lluís & Freijo, Modesto & Edo, Joaquín, 2012. "Is corporate social responsibility possible in the mining sector? Evidence from Catalan companies," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 118-125.
    4. Yavas, Volkan & Ozkan-Ozen, Yesim Deniz, 2020. "Logistics centers in the new industrial era: A proposed framework for logistics center 4.0," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).
    5. Vivian Welch & Christine M. Mathew & Panteha Babelmorad & Yanfei Li & Elizabeth T. Ghogomu & Johan Borg & Monserrat Conde & Elizabeth Kristjansson & Anne Lyddiatt & Sue Marcus & Jason W. Nickerson & K, 2021. "Health, social care and technological interventions to improve functional ability of older adults living at home: An evidence and gap map," Campbell Systematic Reviews, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 17(3), September.
    6. Mechthild Donner & Anne Verniquet & Jan Broeze & Katrin Kayser & Hugo de Vries, 2021. "Critical success and risk factors for circular business models valorising agricultural waste and by-products," Post-Print hal-03004851, HAL.
    7. Cornelis Leeuwen & Jos Frijns & Annemarie Wezel & Frans Ven, 2012. "City Blueprints: 24 Indicators to Assess the Sustainability of the Urban Water Cycle," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 26(8), pages 2177-2197, June.
    8. CHEN, Helen S.Y., 2020. "Designing Sustainable Humanitarian Supply Chains," OSF Preprints m82ar, Center for Open Science.
    9. Jim Butcher, 2006. "The United Nations International Year of Ecotourism: a critical analysis of development implications," Progress in Development Studies, , vol. 6(2), pages 146-156, April.
    10. Denise Ravet, 2011. "Lean production: the link between supply chain and sustainable development in an international environment," Post-Print hal-00691666, HAL.
    11. Mara Del Baldo, 2012. "Corporate social responsibility and corporate governance in Italian SMEs: the experience of some “spirited businesses”," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 16(1), pages 1-36, February.
    12. Megan Devonald & Nicola Jones & Sally Youssef, 2022. "‘We Have No Hope for Anything’: Exploring Interconnected Economic, Social and Environmental Risks to Adolescents in Lebanon," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-17, February.
    13. Rigby, Dan & Woodhouse, Phil & Young, Trevor & Burton, Michael, 2001. "Constructing a farm level indicator of sustainable agricultural practice," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(3), pages 463-478, December.
    14. Michael Howes & Liana Wortley & Ruth Potts & Aysin Dedekorkut-Howes & Silvia Serrao-Neumann & Julie Davidson & Timothy Smith & Patrick Nunn, 2017. "Environmental Sustainability: A Case of Policy Implementation Failure?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(2), pages 1-17, January.
    15. Shiferaw, Bekele & Holden, Stein, 1999. "Soil Erosion and Smallholders' Conservation Decisions in the Highlands of Ethiopia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 27(4), pages 739-752, April.
    16. Ibrahim Ari & Muammer Koc, 2018. "Sustainable Financing for Sustainable Development: Understanding the Interrelations between Public Investment and Sovereign Debt," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-25, October.
    17. Parnphumeesup, Piya & Kerr, Sandy A., 2011. "Stakeholder preferences towards the sustainable development of CDM projects: Lessons from biomass (rice husk) CDM project in Thailand," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(6), pages 3591-3601, June.
    18. Pengji Wang & Adrian T. H. Kuah & Qinye Lu & Caroline Wong & K. Thirumaran & Emmanuel Adegbite & Wesley Kendall, 2021. "The impact of value perceptions on purchase intention of sustainable luxury brands in China and the UK," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 28(3), pages 325-346, May.
    19. Christoph M. Schmidt & Nils aus dem Moore, 2014. "Wie geht es uns? Die W3-Indikatoren für eine neue Wohlstandsmessung," RWI Positionen, Rheinisch-Westfälisches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, pages 16, 03.
    20. Katundu Imasiku & Valerie M. Thomas & Etienne Ntagwirumugara, 2020. "Unpacking Ecological Stress from Economic Activities for Sustainability and Resource Optimization in Sub-Saharan Africa," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(9), pages 1-12, April.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jrpoli:v:66:y:2020:i:c:s0301420719307834. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/30467 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.