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Abstract
Anti‐mining sentiments are rife in Europe and North America. Environmental accidents associated with mining activities in numerous countries and resource wars in Africa have triggered harsh criticism, not only of mining but also of the metals industries in general. The purpose of this article is to discuss mining industry practices and responsibilities and to consider the options available for using mineral wealth as a lever for economic, social and cultural development. Our conclusions are that not only are minerals indispensable to such development, but possibly the only viable alternative for a better global standard of living. The article is organised into four sections: 1) First, the background to the current situation is reviewed; 2) The sustainability concept as applied to mining is discussed; 3) Transnational mining companies (mining TNCs) are key players and the target of much of the criticism and their role is analysed in the third section; 4) We consider the issue of poverty reduction and resources development.
Notes
Martin Lynch, Mining in World History, London (2002).
Carl‐Wolfgang Sames, Anaconda – Berichte aus der Rohstoffwelt, München (1986).
D.H. Meadows, D.I. Meadows, J. Randers, W.W. Behrens. Limits to Growth (1972).
This was not a new thought even in the early 1970s. Similar worries had been discussed for example by the Swedish Nobel Prize Laureate Svante Arrhenius, Kemin och det moderna livet, (in Swedish) Stockholm 1919 or by the British historian J. D. Bernal, Science in history, London (1969).
United Nations Declaration on New International Economic Order No. A/RES/3201.
In 1973 the Non‐Aligned Movement led by Algeria presented their proposed New International Economic Order to the United Nations. This new agenda focused to a large extent on the use of natural resources as a lever for economic and social development. Fair and reasonable prices for raw materials formed an important part of the proposal.
Amount of metals consumed per unit of GDP. See for example Astride mining, issues and policies for the minerals industry, Phillip Crowson, London (2003).
It should be noted that energy resources are not discussed in this article, although we acknowledge that there are some direct links between the two sectors; fossil fuels extraction represents a significant proportion of the mining sector, while the smelting and refining of all metals requires significant amounts of energy.
World Development Indicators (2003), The World Bank, Washington DC.
That metals are formed also today and in considerable quantities is demonstrated by the so‐called black smokers and the nodules in deep seafloor environments. There was a surge in interest in the submarine mineral resources as a result of the oil price shocks in the late 1970s. Gradually this interest faded but the International Seabed Authority (ISA) under the aegis of the United Nations was set up in 1994 to deal with commercial issues of these resources. The first commercial exploration permits covering black smokers at a depth of some 5000 m were given by Papua New Guinea to an Australian junior in the early 2000s. See Minerals other than polymetallic nodules of the International Seabed Area, ISA Kingston (2004).
See for example John E. Tilton. On borrowed time? Assessing the threat of mineral depletion, Resources for the Future, Washington D.C. (2003).
Daniel B. Muller and Thomas E. Graedel. Model Development for the Global Cycles of Iron and Its Alloying and Coating Elements, Workshop Report, Yale University, 6–8 February (2003).
“demographic windows”. World Development Indicators (2003).
Based on the estimates of William D. Nordhaus in The Limits to Growth Revisited, Brookings Papers on Economic Activity 2: 1992, pp 1–44.
Innovest Strategic Value Advisors (2001). Sector Report Mining: Base and Precious Metals, www. innovestgroup.com
One example is given in United Nations Reference Book on major transnational corporations operating in Namibia, New York (1985), p. 25 discussing the Tsumeb copper mine in northern Namibia. “… the average annual return on original investment in TCL (Tsumeb Corporation Limited) over the period between 1950 and 1970 as 348 percent.”
Erik Kennes, Footnotes to the Mining Story, Review of African Political Economy, vol 29 pp. 601–607.
One example of this type of arguing was presented in The Courier No 196 p. 38.
Richard Auty, The Political Economy of Growth Collapses in Mineral Economies, approved for publication in Minerals & Energy – Raw Materials Report, Stockholm (2004).
Gavin Wright and Jesse Czelusta, Mineral Resources and Economic Development, Paper prepared for the Conference on sector reform in Latin America, Stanford Center for International Development, November 13–15 (2003).
Paul Stevens, Resource Impact. How to maximize the benefits and minimize the negatives: the contribution of the companies, paper presented at the International Mining Seminar: Global investment, local challenges, Centre for Energy, Petroleum and Mineral Law and Policy, University of Dundee, Scotland June (2004).
as given in Fig .
UN ECA. Mining Policy Pilot Study, Case studies of the South African and Mozambiquan mining clusters, Addis Ababa (2004).
NEPAD, New Partnership for Africa's Development, see www.uneca.org/eca_resources/Conference_Reports_and_Other_Documents/nepad/NEPAD.htm
The forum got its final two signatories, Guinea and Swaziland, to reach the minimum number of 25, at the 2005 African Mining Partnership meeting held in Cape Town early February (2005). The Forum operates under paragraph 46 of the Johannesburg World Summit Plan of Implementation, see www.globaldialogue.info.
Bonnie Campbell, editor. Regulating mining in Africa, for whose benefit? Nordiska Afrikainstitutet Discussion Paper 26, Uppsala (2004).
International Council on Mining and Metals, www.icmm.com/icmm_principles.php
Mining Certification Evaluation project: Independent certification of environmental and social performance in the mining sector a project of WWF‐Australia and Placer Dome Asia Pacific. Paper prrepared by Michael Rae, WWF‐Australia for the MMSD workshop “Possible structures for progress towards sustainable development”, May 7th 2001, Johannesburg South Africa.