Mining Sustainability Working Group

These days, the word sustainability appears prominently on any major mining company’s website or promotional materials… often closely associated with social responsibility.

But what do these concepts mean, who defines their bounds, and what constitutes sustainable mining?  This post briefly explores two approaches.  First, the International Institute for Sustainable development takes the carrot approach: Continue Reading »

The following is an article on mineral scarcity, noted in the ecominerals Yahoo group (http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/ecominerals/). I’m entertained whenever I hear about somebody predicting that we will run out of iron (~%5 of the Earth’s crust). That said, the paper touches on the fascinating discussion of how we and the world will cope with another 40+ years of growing population and (hopefully) raising prosperity, combined with water and energy constraints, lower mineral grades, climate, etc. For background info, this falls within the realm of the Club of Rome’s 1972’s “The Limits to Growth” work.

http://europe.theoildrum.com/node/5239

Abstract Continue Reading »