Environment
Mining inevitably has some impact on the natural environment. We aim to minimise these impacts, rehabilitate the areas we disturb during our operations and preserve or restore the long-term health and viability of the environment around our mines. Steps we take include:
- restoring mine areas to conditions as much as possible like those before mining started and, where we can, creating protected areas like the 30 hectares set aside at the United coal mine in New South Wales, Australia
- reducing our contribution to climate change by being more energy efficient and using more renewable energy
- using water more efficiently to ensure there is enough for everyone who needs it
- reducing sulphur dioxide emissions from smelting to avoid affecting air quality or contributing to acid rain
- managing wastes and closed mines to avoid contaminating land
- researching ways to reduce the carbon dioxide emissions when our customers use coal as an energy source
Management accountability is central to our approach and we undertake regular internal and third-party audits to assess performance against our standards and how we are managing sustainability risks.
