Reference no: EM133448627
Case Study . Sustainability opportunity and threats analysis: water management at Billiton Mitsubishi Alliance (BMA), Australia (OECD/IEA, 2006)
Aspects of water management by Billiton Mitsubishi Alliance (BMA) were used to trial a new tool for identifying and evaluating site-level sustainable development issues in open cut and underground coal mining - the Sustainability Opportunity and Threats Analysis (SOTA), developed by Australia's Sustainable Minerals Institute.
The institute was established in 2001 to coordinate minerals-related research in the University of Queensland, and to work with mining and minerals processing companies to develop an improved understanding of the meaning and application of sustainable development principles to the state's minerals industry. SOTA assists mine managers to identify the threats and the opportunities which could affect the future success of an operation, and its ability to contribute to sustainable development objectives.
At its core is the novel application of risk management techniques, which have become standard procedure in the mining industry, to sustainable development issues in an attempt to blend the two themes into a single, operational tool. Access to reliable sources of water is essential to coal mining. Even mines that do not wash their coal in preparation plants need significant quantities of water for dust management, drilling, human consumption and many other uses. Also, as a result of these activities, the transformation of clean water into dirty water must be carefully managed by the mine and presents many challenges.
Water management at BMA's Norwich Park mine was chosen to trial application of SOTA because of the multi-dimensional nature of the issues it presented. BMA manages water resources for its seven large mines, and supplies water to local communities, farmers and other mines through its extensive pipeline system. The range of water management issues arising, and the potential for conflict between priorities, presented a particularly appealing test subject for SOTA, with the whole range coming together at Norwich Park mine.
The SOTA process at Norwich Park involved a number of steps:
a. Scoping the project and defining its boundaries, which in Norwich Park's case encompassed the mine, the nearby town of Dysart, the Bingegang Weir/Dawson River, various farms and the section of BMA's water pipeline which connects them.
b. Information gathering, including the identification of stakeholders and the compilation of a list of sustainable development-related "prompts" to guide the consideration of threats and opportunities.
c. Risk identification and evaluation, using well-known techniques for assessing the likelihood and consequences of occurrences, but, in this case, applying these techniques to events with a sustainable development impact.
d. Opportunities are also assessed to arrive at an overall risk rating for a particular outcome. Treatment of the risks, involving the identification of measures to control the major risks and enhance any benefits - that is, the main elements of a management strategy balancing financial, social and environmental objectives.
For Norwich Park mine, there were a number of lessons in the exercise, including the need to improve the measurement and balancing of fresh water flows through the system, opportunities for the mine to replace some raw water use with recycled water, and opportunities for the local community to use less water. More broadly, the Norwich Park trial was a valuable test of the SOTA tool and validated its usefulness. It also provided BMA with a new technique to apply at each of its sites as part of the company's efforts to improve the overall sustainability of its water management practices.
QUESTIONS
1. Explain the benefits of adapting the use of SOTA tool to BMA's pursuit of sustainable water management.
2. Discuss the compelling reasons of BMA in agreeing to conduct trial application of SOTA tool in its Norwich Park mine.
3. Evaluate the initial sustainable steps that BMA has taken to improve its water management practices based on:
a. UN's definition of sustainable development.
b. The general strategy of investing on sustainable development.