Mining and the Environment

Description Assignment 2 Answer any two parts (a) Over the years the mining giant BHP Billiton has audited its environmental performance in documents of various names including Health, Safety and Environment Community Report, Environment Report, Environment and Community Report or more recently as Sustainability Reports. These documents can be found electronically on its website http://www.bhpbilliton.com/society/reports and date back at least until 2001. Look at the latest report and compare to one from 5 or more years ago. Identify the major environmental issues mentioned in the reports. Has there been a change in emphasis on the main environmental issues over this time? Discuss and justify your answer. Discuss whether genuine improvement in environmental outcomes has occurred in this time frame. (b) Read the Executive Summary of the Jabiluka Environmental Impact assessment (available from Blackboard). Identify and discuss the main environmental issues reported in the Executive Summary. After reading the Environmental Impact Statement do you think the mining of uranium should occur at Jabiluka under the conditions described? Explain your reasoning. (c) Discuss the impact of the Ok Tedi copper mine on the Western Province of Papua New Guinea. In your opinion do the benefits of the mine outweigh the disadvantages? Could the mining have been done in a better way? Explain your reasoning and justify your conclusion. This essay requires an evaluation of both the advantages and disadvantages. (d) Look at the Draft Olympic Dam EIS released in 2009. This EIS related to the proposed expansion of the mine. Summarise the purpose of the dam and what expansions were planned. What environmental issues were there with the original mine and what extra issues would be raised with the expansion. BHP has since shelved expansion plans for the mine. Why do you think they did this and do you agree with the decision (give reasons)