Introduction

Contrary to the notion that spending for social and environmental solutions erodes profits, business models integrating economic, ecological and social costs into Strategic Mine Planning (SMP) demonstrate just the opposite.

Ecological and social costs of mining reach beyond carbon and greenhouse gas emissions, pollution, destruction of natural resources and devastation to local communities. Poor environmental planning can impede regulatory approvals, trigger fines, force closure actions and damage relationships with local governments and communities, at huge unplanned costs that diminish future opportunities. 
A new three-part series introduces an “ecological or ecosystem services” model that calculates and integrates comprehensive ecological costs into Strategic Mine Planning (SMP) that can be tied directly to local community benefits. This capability can be transformative because it unites the goals of sustainable profitability for mining with the aspirations of local communities for healthy ecosystems and social stability.

The first article, Conventional vs Green NPV, looks at a recent test case and theoretical study demonstrating the value of optimized "Green NPV" planning for both mining companies and local communities. The study shows that SMPs incorporating broad environmental costs actually lead to reduced costs over the life of the mine while generating social and ecological value for communities.
Why Include Ecological Costs? addresses the many pressures, options and resources mining companies navigate to become more sustainable and how new ECO SMP models that capture true ecological costs advance that commitment.

The series concludes with Sustainability of Green NPV, which explains in practical detail how to engage with and implement ecological cost integration into mine planning and the risks of failing to do so. Much of sustainable mining today focuses on vulnerable assets at most risk from physical climate change, how decarbonization shifts demand for key minerals, and how miners can decarbonize their own operations. However, models that also capture per-acre ecological costs, as well as investments in communities for construction, execution and mine closure, carbon emissions, costs per damaged area and rehabilitation can generate Green NPV that is more efficient and sustainable than conventional approaches to NPV. 

This approach asks miners to consider what might seem counterintuitive. The evidence, however, clearly suggests that Green NPV merits engagement. We hope you find this series useful and that it inspires you to discover new ways to advance mining sustainability.

Author:

Ross Milne- Senior Mining Industry Process Consultant, GEOVIA, Dassault Systèmes​​​​​​​ 

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