Sustainable Development and Cleaner Production in Minerals and Energy Production

Sustainable development is a three-pronged attack on the future. It is shorthand for balancing economic progress, social equity and environmental quality to provide fulfilling lifestyles for the planet’s inhabitants, both now and in the future. Sustainable development has been progressively embraced by leading industries, national governments, international organisations and financial institutions. Industries, and governmental and non-governmental organisations alike, are exploring the sustainable development implications for their operations to define which business strategies and technologies are most likely to contribute best to the sustainable development process and the sustainability objectives while maintaining business goals. This process is particularly complicated for the mining, minerals and energy industries which existence is based on the mining and processing of nonrenewable resources. There is no consensus on the role of these industries in a sustainable society. It appears that different interpretations of sustainability originate from the different interests that the stakeholders have in the sectors. It may therefore be difficult to arrive at a shared vision on the sustainable development implications, even though such shared vision is urgently needed to achieve the impressive quantum improvements in eco-efficiency that appear to be necessary for not endangering the earth’s carrying capacity. Technology will have to play a profound role to achieve quantum improvements in ecoefficiency both in the mining process life cycle as well as the mineral and energy products life cycles. Cleaner production offers many opportunities in particular for the near and medium term future, but the far future will call for break through innovations in production and consumption systems. Cleaner production is based on the continuous application of an integrated, preventive environmental strategy to products and services, as well as the production systems necessary to manufacture and deliver these, with the objectives of improving eco-efficiency and reducing risks to humans and the environment. The processing and manufacturing industries had the lead in adopting cleaner production, and demonstrated that cleaner production can be achieved in many different ways, including modification of equipment or product, replacement of process technologies or input materials, reuse and recycling, and better operation and maintenance practices. Examples from Australian mineral and energy companies clearly demonstrate that cleaner production provides ample opportunity for achieving both ecological and financial benefits. Sustainable Development and Cleaner Production in Minerals and Energy Production