MN 584 SURFACE MINE PLANNING AND DESIGN

CHAPTER 9

ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECTS OF PLANNING AND DESIGN

9.1 Introduction

Before a decision to develop a new mineral resource can be made, there are obviously many
questions to be answered. Can the short- and long-term environmental management of a proposed
development be accommodated at an acceptable cost and in a manner that will result in the timely
issuance of a governmental approval?
There are a number of various governmental approvals required of every new development and
those dealing with environmental awareness and protection of environmental are among those that
are difficult to obtain in many countries. For example, in Ghana the principal environmental laws
applicable to the mining industry are the Environmental Protection Agency Act 1994 (Act 490) and
the Environmental Assessment Regulation 1999 (LI 1652).
The mining industry's difficulties with governmental approvals increased significantly over the year
due to the ever-growing environmental awareness and prediction of environmental impact. In the
past miners were required to solve only technical problems only as they arose.
Today, however, the mining engineer is required to perceive every conceivable environmental
problem and define the capacity to solve them before they are granted the approvals to even begin
construction in certain countries. Environmental inquiry has subsequently become an integral part
of a new facility planning as financial, engineering, and other traditional planning activities

9.2 Uncertainties of Environmental Planning

Environmental planning is by no means an exact activity and must be engaged in the light of many
uncertainties. Categorization of these uncertainties might be as follows:
• Fact Problems;
• Legal Uncertainties;
• Political Uncertainties;
• Citizen Intervention.

9.2.1 Fact Problems

Ordinarily, engineers are prepared to commit the construction of a project before detailed planning
and expensive design work is completed. Engineering is costly and design work is properly deferred
until it is actually needed for construction purposes. Most environmental laws, however, require the
submission of pre-construction data that is normally available at early stages of a project. Planners
must therefore elect to risk the expenditure of substantially more capital and effort during the earliest
phase of the project planning in order to minimize the administrative indecision and delays in
securing the necessary approvals.

9.2.2 Legal Uncertainty

As if the factual uncertainties are not sufficiently mind-bogging, we will superimpose the problem
with legal uncertainty. One basic problem of environmental law is the difficulty of finding it.
Regulations and guidelines are particularly elusive and considerable care must be exercised in
researching every possible source of information. It can be embarrassing to find that some obscure
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regulation can be overlooked which will require a permit approval. A second area of legal
uncertainty is that many environmental laws are not clear. The law may be poorly drafted and
questionable aspects of the law may not yet have been interpreted by the courts. A third legal
uncertainty is the rapidity with which they occur in the statutes, regulations, and case laws.

9.2.3 Citizen Intervention

Reforms in administrative laws and structures make it easier for citizens to scrutinize agency
decisions and to compel judicial review of agency decisions. By-laws for specific places can even
be pressed home. Although this development can be considered as a special aspect of political
uncertainty, it must be given special attention in forecasting the timing and likelihood of success of
a permit acquisition.
9.2.4 Political Uncertainty
Another category of confusion is political uncertainty. Public opinion, however well informed,
does have an effect on governmental officials, and it will be naive to believe that strict technical
compliance with the law will always guarantee project approval. Significant public pressure can
delay the handling of permit applications approval. Significant public can delay the handling of
permit applications and trigger political considerations into the decision- making process.
Much of the stop-mining effort advanced by environmental activists under the guise of air and
water pollution control, land reclamation and environmental impact assessment is really an attempt
to secure special interests that may not yet be protected by the law.
9.3 ENVIRONMENTAL PLANNING PROCEDURE

Environmental planning therefore becomes an effort to reduce these uncertainties and to develop a
strategy for orderly and timely development. How does one organize oneself to accomplish these
goals?
First, a careful step-by-step problem analysis must be undertaken at the earliest possible time. In
connection with this task such questions may be relevant. What are project planners proposing to
do? What environmental impacts will result from the project? What permits will be required? How
long will it take to acquire them? Will citizen groups or politicians oppose the project? Is it
possible to get the permits in good time to me?
A planning procedure can be looked at as being composed of two parts. These are: (i) The Initial
Project Evaluation and (2) the Game Plan.
9.3.1 Initial Project Evaluation
Prepare a detailed outline of the proposed action.
This should include such items as drawings of land status, general arrangement of facilities, emission
points and estimates of emission compositions and quantities, and reclamation plans. It is also
helpful to have information on the scope of possible future reclamation and alternatives that may be
available which could be accommodated within the scope of the proposed action. For example, are
there other locations for the tailings disposal if the initial location cannot be environmentally
marketed? A schedule for engineering and construction of the proposed action and possible future
developments must be available.

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Identification of Permit Requirements

Certain permits take many months to process and must be applied for in advance of construction.
Further, some permits will require extensive data and very long lead times may be encountered in
the collection of such data.

For example, biotic studies for environmental impact statements require at least a year, and
sometimes longer to evaluate the seasonal changes in the organisms are there points of conflict. Are
there points of conflict between permits requirements and the nature of the proposed action? Can
the proposed action be altered to overcome the discrepancies or to avoid the needs for permits that
will be particularly difficult and time-consuming to achieve?
Identify Major Environmental Concerns
This includes potential on-site and off-site impacts of the proposed action and from possible future
development. Land use and socio-economic issues as well as those of polluting character must be
taken into account. Although there may be little concerns about the impacts of and exploratory
activity itself, when bulldozers and drill begin to move on a property to the public that may indeed
ultimately be a full development of the property. Public concern of the surface forms speculation
about the possible impacts of full development, and this could result in considerable difficulty in
obtaining the permits needed to proceed to the proposed activity.
Likelihood of Participation in Decision Making Process
Recent administrative reforms in many environmental agencies provide for expanded opportunity
for public participation in the decision-making process. Projects that are located in areas of minimal
environmental sensitivity may stir little public interest and permits will not be delayed beyond their
normal course of approval. Projects threatening material impact to an area where the environmental
resources are significant, however, will probably receive public scrutiny and may be challenged
every step of the permit process.
Public intervention and delay can also be experienced where the question is only indirectly or
secondarily related to the proposed activity itself.
Delay from Public Participation
This is also called Intervention Forecasting. When can a public for a citizen to bring a suit? How
long will it take to secure a final court action? Could the plaintiffs enjoin work on the project during
the pendency of the litigation? Can the project tolerate such delays? Can the project schedule be
adjusted to accommodate such delays?
Organization and Effectiveness of Local Citizen Groups
Attitudes are also part of the organization. Local citizen groups can be a powerful ally in positive
communication with the public. They can also be effective adversaries. This evaluation should be
extended to all groups that can have a significant voice in opinion making in the community. The
working relationship of local groups with state or national counterparts should also evaluate.

Attitudes and Experience of Governmental Agencies

Inter-agency conflicts should be identified. New ventures intricate web of state regional and laws
which are complicated by inconsistencies.
Sometimes you must deal with personnel who have little knowledge of the business world or the

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natures of the operations begin proposed. A company must be prepared to dedicate considerable
time and effort in promoting and understanding of the project.
Further it imperative for a company to recognize that governmental agency personnel have a public
duty to see that the various laws and regulations in their jurisdiction are complied with. They may
not always agree that the requirements of the law are practical, fair or equitable, but it is their job to
ensure their applicability.
Consider Previous Industry Experience in the Area
This will involve a determination of public attitudes towards previous or existing industry in the
area and the posture and performance of these industries as responsible member of the community.
It is extremely helpful to the causes of your project if industry enjoys the status of being a good
citizen ... where negative attitudes prevail, is there something about your project that could invite
similar censure or could it be so designed to change public attitudes?
Recent Experience of Other Companies
Have new companies located or tried to locate within the area? Where there any issues involved
relative to their success or failure to locate that might also be issues of concern to the proposed
activity?
Local Consultants and Their Ability
Local consultants can be an invaluable asset in assisting the company in many areas of inquiry.
Their familiarity with the local scene on environment, legal, socio-economic, land-use and other
matters can enhance the credibility of a company's planning afford and acceptability in a community
Local Consultants to Validate Conclusions of Initial Evaluation

Experts: Some of the members are full-time employees and others will serve the project in a
consultant capacity. Exchange of information and ideas from each person's special area of expertise
is essential. For example, reclamation planning must be actively integrated into construction and
operations. This, in turn, involves a reference base of the values of the area as well as the
engineering and economics operation. Are there possibilities where a modification of the mining
plan, location of facilities, milling practices, etc. may provide for a less costly and more
environmentally acceptable ultimate reclamation program? Can the operation be planned so that a
certain degree of reclamation is implemented during the life of the property rather than having to
wait until the ore body is exhausted? What might be anticipated in ten years or fifty years as begin
the legal requirements for reclamation?
Each member of the team, therefore, must become comfortable in sharing the information within
their especially with the other members of the team. Indeed, the team leader must insist that this
cross-fertilization happens and provide frequent opportunities for both the formal exchange and
review of information.
Consultants also need to understand the game plan and not publicly engage in activities that might
conflict with such plan. This can happen if the team leader does not maintain tight control. Policy is
established by company management, and although the advice of consultants can be of considerable
assistance in the derivation of this policy and in the game plans to implement. Previous experience in
dealing with government agencies and in public hearings or litigation should be considered in
selecting technical consultants.

To avoid any surprises, it is a good idea to include the possibility of public hearings or litigation
early in the planning process. Team members should realize that information in reports, memos,
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etc., may come under public scrutiny, and such documentation must therefore be credible. During
the preparation for hearings or litigation, effective communications between team members is of
particular pertinence since those immediately involved in the hearing procedure must have general
agreement on the important issues and the strategy to be pursued, sometimes on rather short notice.
You will note that only brief mention has been made of such items as Environmental Impact
Statements. During the initial project evaluation step, of course, of course, the requirement for an
environmental impact statement may indeed be revealed, and the game plan would then be
responsive in terms of time and content to the development of the required information. The overall
planning concept does attempt take into account these contingency factors.

Select Local Legal, Technical and Public Relations Consultants

Sometimes the local consultants may be those who will be directly involved in the data
development. Inn other instances, these consultants would have more of a role in planning, data
evaluation and public communications.
Avoid Hostile Confrontations with Environmental Groups
There is nothing to be gained from a shouting match where both sides become so highly polarized
that reason and credibility cannot be maintained. No-growth advocates will probably continue to be
unyielding in their opposition no matter how much progress is made in devising effective
environmental controls.
Project planners who view citizen opposition as monolithic and implacable miss, however, an
opportunity to reduce the risks of intervention and delay. Citizen attitudes are subject to change, and
many citizen activists are sincerely, and very properly, seeking to secure for themselves and others
the maintenance of a quality environment. If the proposed activity is demonstrably sound, both
industrially and environmentally, and the public has access to all the facts, it is likely that people
will make sound judgments and that mineral development will be permitted.
Develop a Consistent Program for the Generation of Credible Factual Information
Good factual information needed to refute or substantiate concerns regarding possible impacts of the
proposed action or future development is not always available. Such deficiencies are not uncommon
or unacceptable if they are honestly faced and a program is designed to acquire the necessary
information. Many projects have been seriously delayed or stopped because of a company's failure
to admit that a concern exists. This can become a focal point for attacking the credibility of
company's entire program.

In completing this general discussion of a modern mine planning procedure, an analysis of the tasks
involved, particularly in terms of obtaining permits and approvals, makes it abundantly clear that
many specialists, drawn from various functional areas of mining organizations and outside
consulting firms, must be employed. The makeup of the environmental planning effort, therefore,
consists of a diversity of talents and expertise that must function together as a team. To co-ordinate
these efforts there must be a team leader who has perspective to information evolved. This team
leader must also have the acknowledged responsibility and authority for the performance of this co-
ordinating role. The team members include such personnel as the project manager, project engineers,
attorneys, environmental specialists, technical and public relations.

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9.4 GAME PLAN

This is a strategy for dealing with those issues identified in the Initial Project Evaluation. The
elements such a plan would include the following:
9.4.1 Outline the Technical Information needed to obtain permits and to address legitimate
environmental land use and socio-economic concerns.

If a project is worthwhile, every practical effort must be made to develop information that
demonstrate impacts have been carefully addressed, and controls and mitigation measures will be
adequate to meet all existing standards, and to protect the environment. In cases where standards
are stringent and controls are not demonstrated technology, substantial extra effort must be made to
develop predictions of performance. In cases where better data cannot be developed without
delaying construction, plans may have to include a proposal for eventually securing this data and
adjusting permit requirements before operations begin.
9.4.2 Categorically assign responsibilities for the acquisition of the technical information hires
necessary consultants
Co-ordinate this work of governmental agencies when appropriate.
The primary responsibility for each element of data collection should be clearly designated so that
misunderstandings do not arise.
Governmental agencies can be an important source of background information on air quality, water
quality and other pertinent data. Further, government studies may be intended or in progress which
in scope would include the location and environmental concerns of the co proposed action. Data
collection by the company could complement these studies and vice versa.

9.4.3 Prepare a schedule for obtaining information and data and for submitting permit
applications to the appropriate agencies.
Firm target dates must be established for the finalization of reports, permit applications other
necessary authorizations. Interim reporting periods should also be set to ascertain the status of
progress and to provide whatever adjustments are necessary to keep on the appropriate schedule. A
critical path chart would include a display of this sequence. If a project is properly planned, its
proponents require nothing more from government except even handed operation of the approval
mechanism.