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Mining & Sustainability: The Three Circles of
Sustainable Development
John Trudinger & Dr. Karlheinz Spitz
Environmental Consultants
Mining and the Environment
Introduction
Sustainability is arguably the most widely used
environmental ‘buzzword’ of the past decade. It has been
commonly used and misused to denote a variety of
concepts. However, despite some confusion in its
meaning, its overall premise has been embraced by
regulators and by many industries, including mining.
Opponents of mining commonly claim that it is not a
sustainable activity. This might seem strange for an
activity that has persisted since the Stone Age. Two
arguments are used against mining being sustainable.
Firstly, the fact that the minerals themselves are non-
renewable suggests that, eventually, mineral stocks will
be exhausted. There is abundant evidence to indicate
that this situation will never arise. The second argument
is that mining makes irreversible changes to the physical,
ecological and social environment, which can not be
sustained. However, the same argument could equally be
applied to most of man’s other activities and indeed, to
many natural events. The key here is that the benefits of
mining (or other activity) should outweigh any negative
impacts.
The concept of sustainability derives from the idea of
sustainable development as popularized by the World
Commission on Environment and Development in
1987.This commission was chaired by Norwegian Prime
Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland, and is widely known as
the Brundtland Commission. In the words of the
Brundtland Report (WCED 1987), sustainable
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development means ‘meeting the needs of the present
without compromising the ability of future generations to
meet their own needs’. It is in the context of this definition
that the sustainability of mining is assessed in this paper.
Clearly, the concept of sustainability will vary depending
on what is being sustained. Sustainable agriculture, for
example, refers to agricultural systems that can be
continued indefinitely without system failure.
The Three Circles of Sustainable Development
A widely held view of sustainable development is that it
refers at once to economic, social and ecological needs
(Figure 1). According to this view (Spitz and Trudinger
2008), there must be no single focus (or object) of
sustainability, but instead all economic, social and
ecological systems must be simultaneously sustainable.
Satisfying any one of these three sustainability circles
without also satisfying the others is deemed insufficient.
Each of the three circles is independently crucial, but
they are interconnected. There is, therefore, a risk of
unwittingly causing (or worsening) problems in one
system while attempting to correct problems in another.
The only sure way to avoid this is to integrate decisions
such that effects in all three systems are considered
before action is taken (Robinson and Tinker 1998).
Figure 1. The Three Circles of Sustainable Development (SD)
Economic Sustainability
The economic circle of sustainability is founded on the
concept of maximizing the flow of income from a stock of
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capital while maintaining the stock yielding this income.
The concept encompasses traditional theory on
economic growth, that is, determining optimal economic
growth with a given capital. The premise is that future
generations can only be better off if they have more
capital per capita than we have today. It is immediately
obvious that population growth is inimical to sustainable
development since it 'dissipates' the capital stock.
Technological change, on the other hand, enables a
given capital stock to generate more wellbeing per unit of
the stock. An easy way to think of it, then, is to say that
future generations will be no worse off if capital stocks
are 'constant' and for the rate of technological change to
just offset the rate of population growth. If technological
progress is faster than population change, then future
generations could still be as well off as we are today with
a lower capital stock, and so on.
Capital, as is now well known, goes well beyond the
common idea of financial capital and has five main forms
(MSSD 2006):
1. natural (or environmental) capital, which
provides a continuing income of ecosystem
benefits, such as biological diversity, mineral
resources, forests, wetlands, and clean air and
water;
2. built (or productive) capital, such as machinery,
buildings, and infrastructure (roads, housing,
health facilities, energy supply, water supply,
waste management, etc);
3. human capital, in the form of knowledge, skills,
health, cultural endowment, and economic
livelihood (small enterprise development,
literacy, health care, inoculation programs, etc.);
4. social capital, the institutions and structures that
allow individuals and groups to develop
collaboratively (training, regional planning,
decision sharing culture, etc.); and
5. financial capital, the value of which is simply
representative of the other forms of capital.
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This broadening of the concept of capital is critical to an
understanding of sustainable development. It is now easy
to see that the total capital stock could be rising while any
one form of capital is declining. The idea that forms of
capital substitute for each other is embodied in the notion
of weak sustainability. If, on the other hand, forms of
capital are not substitutable then the requirement that the
total stock be constant (rising) has to be supplemented
by the requirement than the relevant specific capital stock
should also be non-declining. In the literature, this has
been termed strong sustainability.
Linkages with social development centre on equity
between different societies, and between the present and
future generations. Economic efficiency and optimal use
of scarce resources are also underlying principles, since
the concept of sustainability is based on the idea that
natural resources are somehow scarce, which means
that any use today may preclude a use tomorrow and
vice versa, that use tomorrow may require a restriction of
the use today. Difficulties arise with economic
sustainability in terms of identifying the types of capital to
be maintained, and substitutability. Linkages with
environmental development focus on valuation of natural
resource capital and the degree to which pricing of the
resource accounts for scarcity and the full environmental
and social costs.
Social Sustainability
The social circle of sustainability addresses issues such
as poverty, health, education, local empowerment and
maintaining culture and heritage. Although social norms
change over time, sustaining social and cultural systems
is important. Social sustainability has obvious linkages
with economic development in terms of addressing
poverty and local input into economic decision-making.
Linkages with environment development focus on the
allocation and distribution of natural resources to future
generations as well as local empowerment over natural
resource management.
Ecological Sustainability
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The ecological circle of sustainability is concerned with
maintaining the physical/chemical and biological
environment to preserve resilience and the ability of
natural systems to adapt to change, protecting from
degradation the ecological processes, functions and
cycles that are fundamental to life on Earth. An obvious
linkage with economic development is through the supply
of raw materials for production and the use of the
environment as the final waste sink. One linkage with
social sustainability is through the level of local
participation in natural resource management. Closely
related to ecological sustainability is the concept of
carrying capacity, both in terms of human population that
can be supported by Earth and the ability of our
environment to assimilate final waste products. All mine
developments intrinsically involve ‘trade-offs’ between
potentially conflicting goals, such as mineral exploitation
and respecting traditional land rights, or economic growth
and environmental conservation. The challenge is to
optimize trade-offs between and across the three
spheres basic to sustainable development - the
ecological sphere, the economic sphere and the social
sphere (Barbier 1987; Holmberg et al. 1991).
Patrick James, CEO of Rio Algom Ltd., was among the
first to urge that mining, like other forms of development,
must contribute not only economic value to stakeholders,
but also environmental and social value. In the June
1999 ‘Mining Engineering’, he also observed that ‘as an
industry, we will gradually find ourselves unable to
operate anywhere if we are incapable or reluctant to
effectively combine economic, environmental and social
goals everywhere we do business’.
In summarizing the major challenges the mining industry
faces, Sir Robert Wilson, executive chairman of Rio
Tinto, wrote in the June 2000 issue of ‘Mining
Engineering’ that mining finds itself in increasing disfavor
in the United States, Canada, Europe and many other
parts of the world. He adds that industry’s traditional
responses — to say that criticisms are ill-founded, to
remind critics that they depend on mineral products, and
to engage in education, advertising and public relations
campaigns — have all been to little or no avail. Mining’s
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reputation continues to deteriorate, he concludes. Sir
Robert urges the mining industry to change its dialog with
stakeholders, especially with non-government
organizations, and supports a new global mining initiative
to seek ‘independent analysis of issues that will
determine the future of mining and that these issues are
social and environmental as well as economic’
(www.geotimes.com 2006).
Requirements of Sustainable Mining
At first glance, sustainable mining appears to be a
contradiction in terms, as for all practical considerations,
minerals are not renewable and accordingly all orebodies
are finite and therefore exhaustible. Most mining projects
have operating lives of 5 to 50 years. However, the
history of mining over several millennia indicates that as
orebodies are depleted and projects close, new
orebodies are discovered leading to development of new
projects, so that supply of mineral commodities seldom
lags far behind demand. Accordingly, the industry as a
whole has proved to be quite resilient throughout human
civilization.
Sustainability has different connotations, depending on
whose viewpoint is being considered. To be truly
sustainable, mining needs to meet the disparate needs of
stakeholders including host communities, governments,
company shareholders, and employees as well as the
environment in which it takes place.
Host Communities
From the viewpoint of a community hosting a mining
operation it is important that the mining operation itself is
not perceived to be sustainable in the sense that it will
continue for ver. All mining projects have finite lives.
Communities should be well informed so that their
expectations are realistic. While there are examples of
communities which have been supported by mining
operations for more than 100 years, there are many more
examples where mining has ceased after much shorter
periods. In some cases the associated communities have
declined substantially or disappeared totally, as in the
case of ‘ghost towns’, the remnants of abandoned mining
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communities. This is not to suggest that there is anything
intrinsically wrong with temporary communities. Many
mines are developed in remote, unpopulated areas with
no other potential source of employment and, in such
cases, there is usually no reason for the community to be
sustained, once mining ceases.
The mining industry itself, however, can be considered as
sustainable, as there will always be ores to be mined.
This follows because the elements which combine to
form ores remain at or close to the earth’s surface, even
after they have been used. When the higher grade,
readily accessible ores have been mined, lower grade
and/or less accessible ores will be mined. And, in the
future, particularly if production costs increase, it can be
expected that more and more mineral and metal products
will be produced by recycling.
In many cases, the communities that have developed in
association with mining, have continued long after mining
has finished, albeit on a reduced scale. Examples in
Australia include many of the larger inland cities, such as
Ballarat and Bendigo, which continue to exist and
ultimately to thrive following conclusion of mining. What is
important to a community considering becoming host to a
new mining project, is that the community itself is
sustained during and after mining. This usually means
that the pre-existing livelihoods and economic bases are
maintained and that additional means of income
generation are developed to replace mining, once
operations cease.
Different host communities have different requirements,
expectations and aspirations in relation to new mining
developments. Impoverished communities are likely to
focus on employment opportunities while communities
that already enjoy high standards of living will be most
concerned to ensure that these standards are not
eroded. Typical requirements include:
• Just compensation for landholders affected
directly or indirectly by project development;
• Direct employment opportunities for working age
members of the community;
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• Training to equip local people for direct
employment;
• Opportunities for existing local businesses to
supply goods and services to the mining project;
• Continuation of pre-existing land uses and
livelihoods in the areas surrounding the project;
• Preservation of indigenous cultures;
• Protection of community values;
• In the absence of existing local businesses to
service project needs, assistance to establish
such businesses;
• Clear and timely information from the mining
company in relation to direct employment and
business opportunities ;
• Clear information from the company on risks
and hazards associated with the project
including use of explosives, traffic and the use,
storage and disposal of hazardous substances;
and associated contingency plans;
• Input to major decisions of significant concern.
Examples include workforce accommodation
options, water supply issues, and siting of
facilities;
• Input to community development planning;
• Development of initiatives to offset negative
effects of reduced employment as the project
closes, and
• Close involvement in formulation and
implementation of closure plans.
Governments
Governments administer and regulate mining activities
through a variety of laws and regulations that differ
significantly from country to country. In some countries
the minerals are owned by that country; elsewhere
minerals may be privately owned. Responsibility for
regulation of mining activities may be at the national
level, at the state or provincial level, or at an even more
local level. Commonly, different aspects of a mining
operation are regulated at different levels of government
and there maybe overlap with more than one level of
government regulating the same aspect. Notwithstanding
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these differences, the government viewpoint in relation to
sustainability of a mining operation generally requires
that the mining proponent should:
• Observe all applicable laws and regulations;
• Adhere strictly to terms and conditions
associated with project approval, including
environmental management and monitoring
programs;
• Implement and maintain community
consultations and community involvement
programs;
• Avoid causing divisions within the local
communities or adding to pre-existing divisions;
• Implement programs to manage public risks
associated with the project including delivery,
usage and storage of hazardous substances,
operation of tailings storage facilities, and the
use of explosives;
• Provide regular reports presenting up-to-date
information about key project issues and
monitoring of environmental parameters;
• Ensure that sufficient funds are accrued or
otherwise arranged so that the project site can
be rehabilitated once mining has ceased.
• Some jurisdictions, particularly for projects in
remote or impoverished areas, also require that
proponents assist government in providing
services such as health and education, and the
upgrading of local infrastructure.
Mining Company
From the viewpoint of a mining company, sustainability
means locating and developing mining projects to provide
returns to shareholders, as well as funding for exploration
to find or acquire replacement projects. Some
companies, such as the Benguet Corporation of the
Philippines, once a major producer of gold, copper and
other minerals, have sustained themselves during
downturns in the industry, by alternative revenue-
generating activities such as real estate development.
Profit is clearly the main requirement for sustainability of
any commercial enterprise. Most companies aspire to be
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sustainable; however, many do not achieve this goal,
whether due to poor management, lack of profitability,
take-over, or inability to find replacement projects. The
main disincentive for a company is a lack of security-of-
tenure over its mineral resources, and it is unlikely that
any Board of Directors would approve commitment of
capital for a project that lacked such security.
Commonly during the planning stages of a project and
continuing into the operating stage, a mining company is
under pressure to contribute funds or efforts to a wide
range of programs. The company may be reluctant or
unable to make significant contributions until operations
are underway and a positive cash-flow is established. As
negotiations take place during the environmental
permitting process, the company may commit to future
contributions and it is important that these commitments
be sufficiently conservative that they can be afforded
under all reasonable financial scenarios.
Another important aspect of sustainability from the
company’s perspective is to establish and maintain
community support. Each project depends on community
support at least as much as the community depends on
the project. It requires time and patience for a project
proponent to establish trust, particularly in areas without
a prior history of mining or with previous unfavorable
experiences. It also requires a consistency of approach,
the honoring of commitments, and a willingness to seek
out, listen to and respond to the views of all stakeholders.
Ideally, the mining project becomes an integral part of the
community, something of which the community is proud.
Employees
From the viewpoint of employees, the over-riding
requirements are:
• Security, meaning a reasonable expectation of
continuity of employment for a defined period;
• Adequate remuneration, commensurate with the
circumstances;
• Training as necessary to carry out job
requirements and to provide opportunities for
advancement; and
• A safe working environment.
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• In some circumstances, employees will have
additional requirements relating to family
accommodation, health services and religious
observances.
Shareholders
People and their institutions invest in mining companies
to make money. The expected return on investment is
based on perceived risk; the highest returns are expected
from projects with the highest risks. Risks have
traditionally included sovereign risk, political risks, risks
associated with delivering a project on-time and on-
budget, and risks from geohazards such as earthquakes,
floods and landslides. To these must now be added
social risks which can range from chronic local opposition
causing schedule interruptions, to violent uprisings or in
the extreme case civil war, as occurred in Bougainville.
Financial Institutions
Until the advent of the Equator Principles, the main
requirements of banks providing finance for mining
projects were timely repayment of borrowed funds and,
for their own sustainability, opportunities for further
lending in the future. Now, most lending institutions also
require that the project adheres to the Equator Principles.
The Environment
In a broad sense, “the environment” can be considered
as an important stakeholder with the potential to benefit
from or be damaged by mining and associated activities.
From the viewpoint of the environment, sustainability
means that environmental values should not be lost or
permanently degraded.
Clearly, environmental sustainability is a complex issue,
involving much more than the rehabilitation of surface
disturbance. Many aspects of the environment are
involved and need to be considered in evaluating
sustainability.
These include:
• Protection of water resources – yields and
quality;
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• Maintenance of air quality;
• Continuity of ecological functions; and
• Maintenance of bio-diversity.
The measures used for sustaining or even enhancing
these environmental components are the ‘building blocks’
of environmental management, about which much
information exists (Spitz and Trudinger 2008).
Much of the focus of environmental management aims to
protect valuable environmental attributes and to
rehabilitate damage caused as a direct or indirect result
of development. Such rehabilitation usually aims to re-
establish the landscape and biota that were present prior
to mining. While some mining operations can be totally
rehabilitated, there are others where part of the project
“footprint”, usually the “final void”, is not amenable to
rehabilitation. Where significant environmental attributes
are involved, the permanent damage sustained in this
“residual footprint” may be compensated for by means of
“environmental offsets”. A typical example of an
environmental offset in a forested ecosystem is the re-
establishment of forest (by the mining company) on land
degraded by others, over an area exceeding that
occupied by the final void, thereby providing a net benefit
to the environment.
Biodiversity is one significant environmental attribute that
frequently features as an issue for mining developments.
While biodiversity has several components, it is species
diversity that draws the most attention and, in particular
the potential that one or more mining projects could
contribute to the extinction of one or more plant or animal
species. Interestingly, despite mankind having been
implicated in the extinction of hundreds of species of
biota, there is no documented evidence that any species
have disappeared due to mining. However, as mines are
becoming larger and are being developed in new
environments, the possibility of loss of biodiversity due to
mining must be addressed. Again however, there is often
the potential that mining, through the research that it
sponsors and through environmental offsets, can actually
improve habitats used by threatened or endangered
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species, thereby lessening their vulnerability to extinction.

A good example is bauxite mining in the Darling Range of
Western Australia where the Jarrah Forest ecosystem
and many of its endemic species were being threatened
by Jarrah Dieback Disease well before mining References
commenced. Research, sponsored in part by mining Barbier EB (1987) The Concept of Sustainable Economic

companies including Alcoa, has led to improved forest
management practices, and the extensive rehabilitated
mined areas now represent some of the healthiest and
most diverse areas of upland forest.
Criteria for sustainability from the viewpoint of the
environment could include:
• Conservation and/or re-establishment of
representative vegetation communities and
Development, Environmental. Conservation, Vol. 14, No. 2; pp.
101–110.
Holmberg J, Bass S and L Timberlake (1991) Defending the
Future: A Guide to Sustainable Development, IIED/Earthscan,
London.
MMSD (2002) Breaking New Ground; Mining, Minerals and
Sustainable Development (MMSD) Project; published by
Earthscan for IIED and WBCSD.
Robinson J and J Tinker (1998) Reconciling Ecological,

habitat types, particularly those associated with
threatened or endangered species;
• No permanent net loss of valuable
environmental attributes;
• Maintenance of hydrologic functions necessary
for maintenance of ecosystems;
• Avoidance of pollution that could exceed the
assimilative capacity of the receiving
Economic, and Social Imperatives; In Schnurr J and S Holtz
eds., The Cornerstone of Development: Integrating
Environmental, Social and Economic Policies, Ottawa:
International Development Research Centre, pp. 9–44.
Spitz K. and J. Trudinger (2008) Mining and the Environment –
From Ore to Metal, CRC Press.
WCED (1987) Our Common Future, World Commission on
Environment and Development (also referred to as the
Brundtland Report).

environment.

Conclusions
While there may be circumstances where individual
projects can not meet the objectives of sustainability, the
state-of-the-art for environmental management and mine
closure is now such that sustainability has become
achievable in most situations.
For a mining project to be sustainable means that it
meets the requirements of its major stakeholders
including shareholders, employees, governments, local
communities, financial institutions and the environment.
The best outcomes occur when the needs and
aspirations of these stakeholders are aligned. Then, all
are working for the same objectives and all share in the
benefits. However, if one of these stakeholder groups is
too greedy and succeeds in obtaining a disproportionate
share of benefits, then the sustainability of the entire
project will be jeopardised.

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