BGR Bundesanstalt für Geowissenschaften und Rohstoffe

Go to:

Water risk assessments in mining

Country / Region: worldwide

Begin of project: December 1, 2016

End of project: November 30, 2021

Status of project: November 1, 2021

View of the Batu Hijau copper-gold mine, IndonesiaView of the Batu Hijau copper-gold mine, Indonesia Source: BGR

The use of water is a vital component for many mining operations worldwide. However, the interactions of mining and water resources entail significant risk for the environment, local communities, as well as mining companies, their investors and downstream customers. Water risks are influenced by a complex set of interdependent factors and appropriate management measures are required for their minimization.
In the context of a growing demand for responsibly produced minerals and sustainable investment opportunities, stakeholders such as mine operators, downstream industries and portfolio managers may want to improve their understanding of water-related risks at mine sites as part of their efforts to integrate sustainability principles into their decision-making procedures. Various third-party assessment tools have been developed in order to support interested parties in gaining a better understanding of water risks in mining and other commodity sectors.
As part of the BGR’s long-term research project on mining and sustainability, the present research scheme seeks to facilitate a deeper understanding of water-related risk assessments tools in mining. Initially, the research focuses on evaluating their predictive accuracy and tests the methods’ potential to assist interested users in gaining a first-order understanding of water-related risks at mine sites.
In collaboration with WWF, the findings are used to develop a mine site-specific operational water risk questionnaire for the WWF Water Risk Filter Tool. The Water Risk Filter is a free, practical online tool that helps corporates and investors to explore, assess, value and respond to water-related risk in their operations, value chain and investment portfolios worldwide. The Water Risk Filter’s standard operational risk questionnaire is designed to be applicable to a wide variety of users from different sectors. To enhance its applicability to the mining sector, the mining specific operational risk assessment template integrates the most relevant, mining specific water risk drivers and aligns to current industry best-practice standards. Furthermore, it allows the users to assess the water stewardship maturity of a company and benchmark the results against the standards of the International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM Water Stewardship Framework). Interested parties in the mining sector as well as their stakeholders are invited to leverage the high-level risk results for prioritizing further actions on water risk mitigation. By using the Water Risk Filter tool in combination with the mining specific operational risk assessment, mining companies and their stakeholders will be able to better integrate water risk considerations into their business strategies and decision-making processes.

Literature:

Contact:

    
Lucas Gilsbach
Phone: +49-(0)511-643-3258
Fax: +49-(0)511-643-3661

to the top

This Page: