About Us
Purpose
The objective of this site is to provide a resource for guidance on the implementation of good practice at mining and metals operations around the world. The target audience for the website is people who are directly and indirectly involved in the design, operation and regulation of mining and metals facilities.
The site will support the implementation and effective achievement of the ICMM Sustainable Development Principles. It will also encompass a host of additional issues lying outside the scope of these principles.
Advisory Group
The development of the Mining and Metals Sector Good Practice website and the selection of the best practice documents is guided by an Advisory Group constituted of a representative from each of the site partners. Presently, the Advisory Group consists of the following members:
Site Partners
The Mining and Metals Sector Good Practice website has been developed in partnership by the following organisations.
- International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM)
- United Kingdom Department for International Development (DfID)
- United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)
- United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
Disclaimer
The content of the documents made available on this website remain the sole responsibility of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of DFID, ICMM, UNCTAD or UNEP. All copyrights rest with the authors.
The International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM) was formed in 2001 with a broad mandate to offer strategic industry leadership towards achieving continuous improvements in sustainable development performance in the mining, minerals and metals industry. ICMM provides a common platform for the industry to share challenges and responsibilities as well as to engage with key constituencies on issues of common concern at the international level, based on science and principles of sustainable development.
Currently ICMM has 15 corporate members and 24 industry association members.
Further information may be obtained from:
Mr. Ben Hedley
Project Officer
International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM)
The United Kingdom Department for International Development (DFID) < http://www.dfid.gov.uk/> is responsible for promoting development and reducing poverty. It has played a significant role in promoting adoption of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by the international community.
DFID have published two White papers that set out the UK government's approach to global efforts to reduce poverty. The first committed the UK government to achieving the MDGs by 2015 the second set out the challenges and opportunites for development presented by the process of globalisation. The commitment to poverty reduction is now enshrined in British law. The International Development Act, which came into effect in June 2002, established poverty reduction as the overarching purpose of British development assistance. It requires that all UK development assistance fulfill two key conditions: firstly that it is for the purpose of either furthering sustainable development or improving the welfare of poor people and secondly that DFID is satisfied that the assistance will be likely to contribute to the reduction of poverty. The Department's budget will reach nearly 4.6 billion per year by 2005/6.
DFID gives particular attention to articulating the inter-relationship between poverty and environmental sustainability, stressing the important contribution of sound environmental management to poverty reduction.
DFID is currently reviewing its work with the Mining and Metals sector and seeks to enhance the sector's developmental impact. The range of past activities include leading UK government work on the Extractives Industries Transparency Initiative, the tri-sector partnerships work of the Business Partners for Development initiative, through to support for the artisanal and small scale mining sector via the work of the Communities and Small-scale Mining (CASM) network coordinated by the World Bank.
Further information may be obtained from:
Mr. Jon Hobbs
Head
Strategic Processes for Sustainability
UK Department for International Development (DFID)
The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) <http://www.unctad.org/> is the principal organ of the UN General Assembly dealing with trade, investment and development issues, as well as the United Nations focal point for the least developed countries. From its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, UNCTAD provides a forum for consensus building among governments on global trade and development issues. UNCTAD also carries out research and policy analysis, and related capacity building and technical cooperation activities that currently involve the organization in some 300 projects in over 100 developing countries.
The global mandate for mineral resources within the United Nations was assigned to UNCTAD in 1995, and the organization has undertaken several new initiatives in order to respond to this mandate. For example, UNCTAD initiated the website, Mineral Resources Forum (MRF) <www.natural-resources.org/minerals/> with the aim of providing a global portal to sustainable development issues related to mineral resources. It produces the Handbook of World Mineral Trade Statistics which contains trade data on 32 mineral commodities. UNCTAD also produces detailed market information on iron ore through the UNCTAD Iron Ore Trust Fund.
Other UNCTAD activities directly concerning minerals and metals relate to life cycle issues, including trade and environment questions arising under WTO Agreements and the Basel Convention. For instance, UNCTAD supports multi-stakeholder panels advising the Philippine and Indian Governments on the development of coherent national strategies for the environmentally sound, economically viable and socially acceptable management of lead, including lead recovery. Further information on these and similar mineral-related activities can be found on UNCTAD�s Trade and Environment website <www.unctad.org/trade_env/>.
In 1996, UNCTAD organized an international expert group meeting on resource-based development, with a focus on mineral economies. This resulted in the publication of a book entitled Development Policies in Natural Resource Economies (UNCTAD/Edward Elgar, 1999).
UNCTAD has also been promoting the idea of long-term regional planning for mining areas, and discussions are currently underway with a view to establishing pilot planning projects for specific localities in Latin America and the Asia-Pacific region.
More recently, funding from the United Nations Development Account has allowed UNCTAD to extend its work on sustainable resource-based development. This new phase of work is designed to emphasize the development of human resources and the strengthening of institutions in order to enhance policy design and implementation, especially for mineral economies in Africa and Latin America.
Further information may be obtained from:
Mr. Olle Östensson
Chief
Information and Risk Management Section
Commodities Branch
Division on International Trade and Commodities
United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)
The initiatives on mining, minerals and environment within the United Nations Environment Programme - Division of Technology, Industry and Economics (UNEP-DTIE) <http://www.uneptie.org/> are aimed at integrating environmental criteria into mining and mineral development, thus ensuring that the sector contributes to national development in the long term (sustainable development). Activities are focussed on enhancing governmental and corporate policies and practices concerning mining operations, and to encourage leadership among key stakeholders concerning scientific, regulatory and technical development of the industry. This should take place in a broad development framework aimed at achieving more sustainable production and consumption patterns at global and national levels.
Work in recent times has focussed on information exchange covering best practice mining operation, tailings management, accident prevention and preparedness, regulatory and management practice, and the role of the financing sector in enhancing environmental performance. Extensive training material has been produced to support the above, as well as development of a programme of information exchange on environmental issues generally.
Further information may be obtained from:
Mr. Fritz Balkau UNEP-DTIE
Consumption and Production Branch
Division of Technology, Industry and Economics
United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP-DTIE)