Environment | Water Management

A number of Xstrata’s operations are located in arid regions where water is constrained. This includes coal operations in the Bowen Basin and Ernest Henry copper mine in Queensland, Australia. Former Falconbridge sites in arid areas include Lomas Bayas, Altonorte and the non-managed Collahuasi copper mine (in which Xstrata has a 44% interest) in north Chile, together with Brenda Mines, a closed site in the Okanagan Valley, Canada. A number of other operations are located in water abundant areas, where water quality, effluent treatment and control of discharges are material issues.

†Xstrata excluding Falconbridge

Raw water use increased by 14% to 85,600 megalitres (ML) in 2006 compared with 75,300 ML in 2005 at Xstrata’s managed operations (excluding Falconbridge). Half of Xstrata’s raw water consumption is from groundwater (including rainwater), 44% from surface water (including water from rivers and lakes) and 6% from potable water (municipal water supplies or other water utilities).

Xstrata Coal’s New South Wales operations reported the largest increase in raw water use, due to substantial dewatering at Ulan underground mine during 2006, along with improved measurement at New South Wales operations. Limited groundwater availability due to the ongoing drought conditions in New South Wales led to an increase in surface water use, in particular from the Hunter River.

The inclusion of the Tintaya operation in Peru from June 2006 was the principal reason for a 20% increase in raw water use by Xstrata Copper operations.

In South Africa, Xstrata Coal operations continued to increase the proportion of recycled water used for dust suppression, reducing raw water consumption. Water consumption decreased at Xstrata Alloys by 14%, due to a number of ferrochrome furnaces being suspended during the period.

A number of Xstrata Coal Queensland operations are located in the Bowen Basin, Australia, a water-constrained area with a number of significant industrial users. These operations reduced raw water consumption by 12% despite a 15% overall increase in production. This was achieved through the increased use of recycled water and the implementation of water efficiency programmes (see case study: Oaky Creek Coal Becomes ‘Water Wise’).

Overall, Xstrata’s operations continued to increase use of recycled water year on year. In 2006 recycled water use increased by 2% to 101,300 ML. The most significant increase was from Xstrata Coal South Africa, through improved recycling of water for processing and dust suppression. At Minera Alumbrera in Argentina, a new water recovery system is being implemented to recover water from the surface of the mine tailings dam and reduce raw water consumption from the Campo del Arena.

The former Falconbridge operations consumed 107,219 ML of water (excluding recycled water) compared to 123,436 ML in 2005. Recycled water use increased from 100,092 ML to 105,266 ML in 2006. These figures are not directly comparable with Xstrata’s reported water use. All Xstrata managed operations, including those acquired from Falconbridge, are reporting according to GRI guidelines in 2007.

Xstrata’s operations (excluding Falconbridge) discharged a total of 7,258 ML in 2006 compared to 7,742 ML in the previous year.