Water Security in the Resource Sector

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1 Water Security in the Resource Sector Money cant buy everything Sue Vink UQ Water Forum

2 Mines and Water Globally, mining accounts for between 2% and 3% and total water consumption Agriculture uses nearly 60% of Australia's total water consumption ( ), with households 11%, and mining 4% In Australia, the gross value added per GL of water used by mining is $226 million compared with $4 million for agriculture Australian Bureau of Statistics 2

3 Clause 34 National Water Initiative Recognises the unique nature of water use in the minerals industry The Parties agree that there may be special circumstances facing the minerals and petroleum sectors that will need to be addressed by policies and measures beyond the 6 scope of this Agreement. In this context, the Parties note that specific project proposals will be assessed according to environmental, economic and social considerations, and that factors specific to resource development projects, such as isolation, relatively short project duration, water quality issues, and obligations to remediate and offset impacts, may require specific management arrangements outside the scope of this Agreement. 3

4 Importance of Water Security Mines require water Dry mining is currently a pipe dream Water is a significant part of the business case Cost of obtaining water Water Infrastructure Treating water Costs of not managing it well 19 people Vale/BHP - $5.1 billion brazil incident Cost of Energy to move, treat and manage water 4

5 Water Challenges Ability to demonstrate good water management while facing numerous challenges Water Scarcity Water Excess Climate variability and change Droughts, floods and everything in between Increased scrutiny regulators, communities, NGO s, investors Most water used in processing and waste (Tailings) management Up to 80% can be used in processing 5

6 Innovation and mine water systems Redesign of mine water systems Increase re-use Potential saving 70% freshwater in Fitzroy catchment coal mines to use alternate (lower quality) water sources Chile mandated mines must use seawater Cost and energy cost of treating and pumping water reduce contamination of water Designer Tailings Paste and thickened tailings, dry stacking Reduced water use No panacea and risks must continue to be evaluated 6

7 Infrastructure and technology investment Escondida BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto have committed to jointly investing US$3- billion into a new 2500 l/s seawater desalination and supply facility for the Escondida copper mine, in Chile.to reduce reliance on aquifers 145km pipeline constructed to transport seawater to the site. Pipeline has 2300 m elevation gain with 4 pumping stations Investment in developing processing methods using seawater Many water pipelines also deliver water to towns 7

8 Contribution to Water Stewardship Water Accounting Framework [Minerals Council of Australia, SMI] Consistent definitions Accurate Surrounding community and environment removes double accounting Operational Facility Transparent INPUT STORE TASK TREAT OUTPUT Quantifies impost on environment and communities Accounts for water quality changes DIVERT Tested on >70 mines Allows benchmarking and best practise Consistent with NWI and the new Australian water accounting system Endorsed by the International Council of Metals and Mining = Global Applicability 8

9 Looking closer Western Australia Australian Bureau of Statistics 9

10 Closer still - catchment footprints Palmer et al. 2010, Science - policy and regulation, 327,

11 Water Complaints CAO addresses complaints from people affected by IFC and MIGA projects with the goal of improving social and environmental outcomes Compliance Advisor Ombudsman 2014 ANNUAL REPORT 11

12 Regional Planning and Cumulative Impacts Strategic Regional Land Use Plan Upper Hunter Strategic agricultural land Critical industry cluster Hunter River Salinity Trading Scheme Managing mine waste water to preserve water quality for agriculture Cumulative Management Areas Surat CSG Fitzroy Partnership 12

13 Transparency and Collaboration Publically available monitoring data Information systems Decision Support Tools Report cards Coal Seam Gas Groundwater (CCSG) 13

14 Final Statement Company website: Water Goal Responsibly managing a shared resource The sustainability of our operations relies on our ability to obtain the appropriate quality and quantity of water and to use this resource responsibly. Water risks and impacts experienced by our operations vary from region to region. Some sites are located in water scarce environments, others have to manage water excess, water quality or water discharge issues. The social, cultural, environmental, ecological and economic values of water have also led to greater scrutiny of responsible water use and expectations from our stakeholders for improved resource stewardship. Subtle shift in mining attitude and approach Proactive co-manager of water resources in partnerships with other water users and government at whole of catchment scale Cumulative opportunities not cumulative impacts 14