The necessary evolution of the ESIA Environmental and Social Impact Assessment in the Mining sector
In April, AFD published a Question de développement n°69 file questioning the reliability of the tool to ensure better supervision of mining projects in West Africa.
Our Mining Group (see www.acp-energies.org > international), which has been looking at the opportunities and challenges in Africa for over a year, has clearly identified the progress that remains to be made in both Large Mines and Artisanal Small Mines. (gold in particular which would employ some 15 million people in West Africa).
So the AFD file is coming at the right time, especially since it is largely based on a very recent thesis from the University of Quebec in Montreal (see http://archipel.uqam.ca/id /eprint/14838 ).
Canada, one of the countries exploiting the African subsoil, is the most important mining country in the world, both in terms of its rich subsoil (It has attractive legislation for Canadian investors), and its mining industries deployed all over the world, particularly in Africa.
Thus, any promoter of a mining project is subject to the obligation to evaluate the impacts of the said project on the environmental and social components with a view to proposing alternatives or mitigation measures. This study is accompanied by an Environmental and Social Management Plan (ESMP) which includes the monitoring and implementation system for the ESISM.
The thesis in question focuses on the violation of human rights in the exploitation of mines in Africa, particularly in four countries, namely Côte d’Ivoire, Madagascar, Mali and Burkina Faso, by Canadian companies.
It talks about:
-mining industry activities polluting air and water, causing deforestation
-landslides without risk prevention, displacement of populations following soil pollution, child labor.
-the degradation of natural environments caused by “discharges, emissions and spills (acid mining drainage reducing land productivity and causing desertification)”
-pollution of river beds, chemical contamination of soils, harmful emissions into the air (dust, pollutants).
Examples are provided in the 4 countries studied, with particular attention paid to Canadian companies: Rangold, Endeavor, Progress Minerals, Iamgold, Teranga, Barrickgold, B2gold, Ambatoyu, Sherrit, Anglogold
Numerous measures have been put in place along the lines that “every person has the right to a healthy, satisfactory and sustainable environment and has the duty to defend it. The State ensures the protection of the environment”
Despite the existence of the norm for the use of cyanide developed by UNEP (United Nations Environment Program) and the International Council on Metals and the Environment (ICME), there is still enormous damage . Mining companies, manufacturers and transporters that commit to respecting the cyanide norm are audited every three years by an independent person who verifies whether their management complies with the conditions set out in the norm.
We could also reduce the number of deaths thanks to automated mines eliminating the number of deadly landslides in the mines.
The poor results mainly come from a lack of coordination, good faith and monitoring of development programs at various levels.
One solution could be to subscribe to an environmental insurance contract. This is the decision that was taken by Imerys for the project for the largest European lithium production site: Emili Project in Beauvoir (Allier), cost €1 billion, production over 20 years starting in 4 to 5 years. This project is part of the brand new international standard IRMA (Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance) https://responsiblemining.net/ based on “Technical Standards, Societal and Environmental Performance, Integrity and System Assurance”. The internal evaluation, launched on March 2023, is under the responsibility of Daniela Liebetegger Social Performance & Stakeholder Management Director – EMILI Project. Around forty mining projects around the world are at this initial stage of evaluation.
For example, the Emili project will be in underground mines (to minimize visual, sound and environmental impacts), the fleet of machines will be electric, the ore preparation will be underground as well as transport by pipe to the mining plant treatment.
In Senegal the Eramet GCO Grande Côte Operation project https://gco.eramet.com/news/gco-irma/ after the internal audit began in May 2023, is at the start of the external evaluation phase (by all stakeholders), it is one of the twenty mines around the world on the some level of assessment..
We then have to dig in the IRMA standard, look at how it differs from the standards in place in Africa and whether it provides answers to the problems identified in the AFD file and the Quebec thesis referenced above. Contacting GCO, with whom we have contacts, will allow us to better understand IRMA.
Your comments and contributions are welcome JLG