Showing papers in "Minerals & Energy - Raw Materials Report in 2000"

Lessons from Zimbabwe for best practice for small‐ and medium‐scale mines

Abstract: Mining has played a vital role in the economy of Zimbabwe from pre‐colonial times, with the emphasis on gold. Although about 80 percent of Zimbabwe's production comes from major mining groups, the complex geology of the country ‐ in particular the gold geology ‐ coupled with an exceptionally liberal mining law, has led to a large number of small formal underground mining operations. In addition artisanal gold winning in river beds and along the river banks has become widespread since independence. The mining regulations require only that on closure there is a degree of clean‐up and protection of openings to the satisfaction of the landowner and the mines inspector before the site can be abandoned. However, these have been recently strengthened with the promulgation of guidelines requiring Environmental Impact Assessments and Environmental Management Systems to be implemented on larger mines. Although the resources for regulation are inadequate, public pressure has caused the formal sector to deve...

International initiatives on small‐scale mining: Lessons from the colombian coal experience

Abstract: The problems of small‐scale and artisanal mining are well known and documented. These activities not only cause substantial environmental damage, but also represent formidable social problems. A great effort is being done by donor organisations to address the issue. An approach proposed by the World Bank after a roundtable in Washington in 1995, calls for an effort to ‘regularise’ artisanal mining and convert this activity into a sustainable one. This article examines the conditions necessary to put a ‘regularisation’ strategy in practice. It reviews previous work on the subject and identifies the critical factors for success. Given the special characteristics of small‐scale mining, the proposed solutions are complex and require a great deal of co‐ordination between a large number of organisations. The article concludes that the leadership of the process must be vested in a powerful, technical and independent agency at the local level. There are success stories in small‐scale mining. The case of ...

A contingent valuation study of the environmental costs of mining in the Brazilian Amazon

Abstract: The Great Carajas Program in the Brazilian Amazon includes one of the world's largest iron ore mines and an 890‐kilometer railroad connecting the mine to the sea. At the time the mine was developed in the early 1980s, the benefits from the project were simply assumed to outweigh the costs, including the environmental damage. This article reports on a recent study using the contingent valuation method (CVM) that attempts to measure the use and nonuse value of the natural resources threatened by large‐scale mining in the Amazon as a whole and more specifically in Serra dos Carajas area. On the basis of a random survey of the population of Brasilia, it finds the average willingness to pay to avoid more large‐scale mining in the Amazon is R$ 5.90. The figure for the Serra dos Carajas area alone varies between R$ 3.90 and R$ 5.10. One of the first attempts to use CVM to assess the environmental costs of mining in the developing world, this study highlights a number of challenges encountered in carryin...

Measuring labor productivity in mining

Abstract: Labor productivity in mining is often measured by output per mining company employee over a given time period such as a year, where output typically is the content of the main metal product contained in the ore. The necessary data for this measure are readily available, an important advantage, but it does suffer from a number of known shortcomings. In particular, it fails to account for changes in the average number of hours mining company employees work annually, the growing use of outsourcing and contract employees, fluctuations in the quantities of byproducts produced, and changes in the extent to which ore is processed domestically. This study assesses the importance of these shortcomings by examining labor productivity in the Chilean copper industry over the 1978–1997 period. It finds the readily available measure of output per company employee closely corresponds with a measure of labor productivity that corrects for the noted deficiencies. This means the almost four‐fold increase in labor ...

Mining sustainably: Opportunities for Canada and Brazil

Abstract: Complexity is the by‐word for the interconnected social, economic, environmental, and political forces that are shaping the mineral investment and trade environment today. In the past two decades, South American nations have aggressively pursued foreign investment dollars, free trade agreements, and embarked on a course of privatization of many state‐owned companies. Brazil, which long followed a policy of isolationism, also engaged in the global trend toward trade liberalization in the mid‐1990s. These developments, along with many shared characteristics, have led to a number of cooperative ventures between two countries that have a considerable stake in the mining sector; Canada and Brazil. This paper examines the developing relationship between Canada and Brazil, and highlights many of the challenges and some of the responses that characterize the changing face of the global mining regime in an era of growing socio‐environmental concerns and pressures for strategic economic alliances.

Planning for mine closure: Some case studies in Ghana

Abstract: Mines are known to generate environmental impacts both during their useful lifetime and after they have ceased to be in operation. At closure, when the mine is not generating any income, it is difficult if not impossible to raise the financial resources necessary to carry out any meaningful remedial works. It is therefore important to plan the closure phase and to make financial provision to meet all environmental requirements while the mine is still in production. It has become the accepted practice in many countries that measures are in place to ensure that, after closure, mines are left in a condition which will minimize long‐term environmental problems. Good planning is the key to the successful control of long‐term environmental problems associated with the post‐operational phase of mining, and planning for mine closure should be an integral part of the general mining plan. In Ghana, mines are required to operate in accordance with, inter alia, the Minerals and Mining Law (PNDCL 153), Ghana'...

Policy and strategy options for small‐scale mining development in Zambia

Abstract: Increasing populations compounded by limited formal sector employment have made small‐scale mining an important economic livelihood option for thousands of people in developing countries. Low barriers to entry, the principal economic characteristic of the sub‐sector, will ensure that small mining operations will continue to provide a livelihood for numerous unskilled workers in rural areas, where few alternative job opportunities exist. In addition, with correct policies and strategies in place, the sector has the potential to generate more employment and foreign exchange earnings. The successful evolution of small‐scale mining requires an enabling policy environment that recognizes its specific needs. In this paper small‐scale mining in Zambia is discussed by tracing the impact of changing policies on this sector.

Economic approaches to valuing the environmental costs and benefits of mineral and aggregate extraction

Abstract: A number of techniques are available for estimating the environmental costs associated with the extraction, transportation and processing of minerals. This paper reviews these techniques in terms of their ability to provide reliable and robust measures of the social costs associated with minerals extraction. It also highlights a number of potential recreational and biodiversity benefits associated with site restoration. A case study is used to illustrate the use of choice experiments to estimate the social costs of minerals extraction. Following this, a number of important issues of special relevance to minerals extraction are identified, including the potential for transferring cost estimates across sites and studies. Finally, it is suggested that reliable monetary estimates of the social costs of minerals extraction could be helpful in informing decisions about planning approval and that such estimates could be incorporated into existing decision‐making tools such as environmental impact assess...

Taxing or talking: Addressing environmental externalities in the extractive industries

Abstract: Proposals have emerged in recent years to use taxation as a means to internalise the environmental costs of mineral extraction. An example is the proposal to introduce a tax on mineral aggregates in the United Kingdom in 2002. It is argued here that the economic tools used to put a price on environmental externalities in this sector are fundamentally flawed, taking insufficient account of the trade‐offs normally implicit in the price‐setting process. Moreover, flat‐rate taxes across an industry fail to take account of the wide range of differences in local impacts and will only influence producer behaviour in so far as the demand for the mineral product is elastic (which often it is not). A more effective approach to the internalisation of environmental costs, and one which addresses the specifics of environmental disturbance at a local level, is through the better use of formal regulatory processes and through constructive dialogue between those engaged in mineral extraction and those directly i...

Pricing the environment in the mining industry: An introduction and overview

Abstract: This paper provides an introduction and an overview to this special issue of Minerals & Energy which focuses on the use of environmental valuation methods in the mining industry. It does this by, first of all, presenting some of the most important environmental impacts resulting from mining and minerals processing activities. Basic insights from the environmental economics literature, which provides the theoretical foundation for the most commonly used valuation techniques, are discussed. Against this background, we end the paper by briefly reviewing the remaining contributions to this special issue. We conclude by emphasizing that the views on the usefulness of most valuation methods are very diverse. This suggests that major research efforts that attempt to improve existing methods as well as develop new, perhaps multi‐disciplinary, ones should be expected and indeed encouraged.

Explicit and implicit technology policies affecting closure: Examples from Australia, Canada, and the United States

Abstract: In recent years, conventional wisdom on how governments should approach environmental problems has undergone a distinct shift. The current debate is characterised by an increased emphasis on policies that are anticipatory and preventive, reinforcing those that are reactive and curative. Evolution of the principle of environmental and economic policy integration has suggested that environmental objectives should pervade policy areas not only concerned with the environment, but also with issues such as economic growth, industrial development, education, and technical change. Technological development, change and adaptation are recognised as crucial factors affecting environmental management in mining operations, including issues associated with closure. Traditionally, however, examinations of government policies affecting closure practices have focused quite narrowly on regulatory approaches. In this paper, a broader range of explicit and implicit government technology policies affecting mining ope...

Developing the gas industry in Brazil: Competition or regulation?

Abstract: Recent developments in the Brazilian gas supply industry are reviewed. Two main questions are addressed. First, is territorial monopoly the best approach for the industrial organisation of an infant gas supply industry (GSI)? Second, how should the regulatory framework of the GSI be related to a competition‐oriented regulatory framework in the electricity supply industry (ESI)? Our view is that the regulation used in North America and in Europe to develop the GSI, when their gas industries were in their infancy, has not been adapted for the Brazilian case. New driving forces are bounding the development of the GSI both in mature and infant markets. An innovative regulatory framework is required that will preserve market power equilibrium and regulatory coherence between the GSI and ESI.

Mineral extraction in a green and pleasant land: What is the effect of sustainable development policies on aggregates quarrying in the United Kingdom?*

Abstract: The United Kingdom (UK) government is committed to sustainable development and a number of its policies are targeted towards the quarrying industry. Environmental pressure groups have focused their attention on this industry and are influencing government policy in relation to aggregates quarrying. Excluding oil and gas this is the largest mineral extractive industry in the UK and its business activities are being increasingly affected and constrained by such policies. Consequently, what are the supply and demand implications for quarried aggregate minerals of the UK Government's evolving sustainable development policies? This paper examines some of these policies from an economic perspective and their effect on the aggregates market. It focuses on issues relating to land use planning policies, environmental taxation and recycling. The paper attempts to analyse the implications for the supply and demand for quarried aggregates and how the quarrying industry is responding to changes brought about ...

Ferrochromium supply in the market economies

Abstract: The main purpose of this paper is to examine the competitiveness of the different ferrochromium producers and present a general overview of the different types of costs they face. Use is made of the “equality”; of the average variable costs and marginal costs in capital‐intensive industries such as mining. This allows the construction of an industry supply curve where different producers are ranked and their competitiveness assessed. On the strengths of our supply curves, the most competitive producers are in South Africa and Zimbabwe, followed by Finland and the rest of the Scandinavia. Producers from these countries face low chrome ore or electricity costs or both. Hence, significantly low costs of either or both is an important source of competitiveness in the industry. The competitive strength of Southern Africa is illustrated by the setting up of joint ventures in this region by their erstwhile Japanese competitors.

U.S. Geological Survey Assessment 2000: Estimates of undiscovered oil and gas resources for the world

Abstract: Worldwide supply of oil and natural gas is ultimately linked to the geologic abundance and distribution of those fossil fuels. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has completed a new assessment of the technically recoverable undiscovered oil and gas resources of the world. Nearly 1000 provinces were defined and known petroleum resources exist in 406 of these. A total of 76 priority provinces, containing over 95 percent of the world's known oil and gas, and 52 “boutique”;, or prospective, provinces were assessed. Based upon our initial analyses, several observations are clear. First, our estimates of total undiscovered technically recoverable petroleum (oil, natural gas, natural gas liquids) resources do not differ greatly (+9.5 percent) from the world totals determined in the 1994 USGS world assessment. However, our estimates of undiscovered oil are up considerably (+24.3 percent), and the regional distribution differs significantly from previous estimates. Secondly, estimates of global undiscovere...

Ownership & control of world's chromite mining and ferrochrome smelting

Abstract: (2000). Ownership & control of world's chromite mining and ferrochrome smelting. Minerals & Energy - Raw Materials Report: Vol. 15, No. 2, pp. 33-36.

Foreign investment and oil industry in the Persian Gulf states

Abstract: In spite of abundant proven reserves and huge production capabilities, the Persian Gulf states have attracted little foreign investment in their oil industry. Indeed, the government still dominates the energy sector in the whole region. Since the mid 1990s, however, several Gulf states have taken steps to liberalize the ownership and management of their hydrocarbon resources. This study examines the current efforts (real and potential) in four Gulf states (Iran, Iraq, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia) to invite international companies back to their upstream oil sector. The paper argues that economic and strategic considerations are the main reasons behind this hesitant and slow opening. While Iran and Kuwait have taken the lead, Saudi Arabia is still reluctant and Iraq is waiting for the lifting of the international sanctions.

‘The Tragedy of the Commons' and Global Environmental Problems

Abstract: Review of Barkin, J Samuel and George E. Shamaugh (eds.) (1999) Anarchy and the environment. Albany, New York, State University of New York Press. ISBN 0-7914-4183-0